Keep those fingers crossed for Hilary Swank to pop up in Cobra Kai season 5 on Netflix. From the start, Cobra Kai has brought in various characters from The Karate Kid and its sequels to continue the franchise’s story. William Zabka and Ralph Macchio are featured in main roles, respectively reprising the roles of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso, while others have since come on for special appearances as well.

At this time, the protagonist of the fourth film, The Next Karate Kid, has not appeared in the series. Played by Swank, Julie Pierce served as the final student of Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) in a new story after Macchio had temporarily moved on from the franchise. The film wasn’t exactly met with the warmest reception from critics at the time, though it did help launch Swank’s film career, serving as her breakout role and theatrical movie debut.

Could we see Swank’s Julie mingling with the Cobra Kai crew in a future season? The show’s creators are not confirming anything, but it sounds like there’s a good chance this will happen. In fact, it might even happen in the upcoming fifth season that’s already been filmed. In any case, here’s what co-creator Hayden Schlossberg told Deadline about the possibility of Hilary Swank joining the series.

“Anything is possible. I always say if you’re a fan of The Next Karate Kid and you want to see Julie Pierce who Hilary Swank played, we’re the show to watch to see if that happens. Season 5 is going to be coming out. It’s in the can. Anything is possible. Julie Pierce is one of the toys in the toy chest so we’ll see.”

Related: 5 Predictions for Cobra Kai Season 5

Cobra Kai Continues to Bring Many Surprises for Karate Kid Fans

Season 4 saw the return of The Karate Kid Part III‘s Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver. While that third Karate Kid film is not without its criticism, Cobra Kai fans were still stoked to see the character’s appearance, given that it further links the new series with the classic story. Fans have pretty much come to expect new surprises with each season at this point, and as Schlossberg has suggested one of the most exciting possibilities that still remain would be for Swank to return as Julie Pierce.


Christopher Cain directed The Next Karate Kid using a script by Mark Lee. In the film, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) meets angsty teen Julie (Swank) and serves as her mentor, helping her cope with martial arts after the deaths of her parents. Along with Swank and Morita, the film stars Michael Ironside, Constance Towers, Chris Conrad, Walton Goggins, Frank Welker, and Daniel Inouye. While Morita played a big part, many fans were quick to write off the movie at the time simply because Ralph Macchio wasn’t involved.

Cobra Kai season 5 does not yet have a release date, but as filming has already been completed, the new episodes should hopefully arrive sometime this year. You can find the first four seasons streaming on Netflix.

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