Posted in: Cobra Kai, Netflix, TV | Tagged: cobra kai, Daniel LaRusso, elizabeth shue, hayden schlossberg, Johnny Lawrence, Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, Ralph Macchio, The Karate Kid (1984), The Karate Kid Part II (1986), william zabka

Cobra Kai Creators Discuss Righting Ali Mills' "Karate Kid 2" Story

The third season of Cobra Kai became another worthy trip down memory lane catching up with the bulk of The Karate Kid universe. Toward the end of the season, the series unveiled arguably the biggest crowning jewel from the 1984 John G. Avildsen original in Elizabeth Shue, who played Ali Mills. She helped set the story in motion stuck in the love triangle between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). As Ali was seeing Johnny earlier in the film, a then-star pupil of Cobra Kai took exception to Daniel's advances. Taking exception to Johnny's bullying ways, Ali breaks up with him and ends up with Daniel until the character was written off in the 1986 sequel Part II.

As TKKP2 begins, Daniel explained to his sensei Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) that Ali left him for a UCLA football player and damaged the car in the process. Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg wanted to undo that for Ali's legacy and spoke to Insider about what they did to fix that. "We didn't like that reason," Schlossberg said. "Elisabeth didn't like that reason. So we tried to think of a way to make a way that didn't make Daniel out to be a liar but also gave Ali her own side of the story."

Hurwitz knew when they brought Shue on board, they had to figure out how to change to tell the full story. "Hearing what happened at the start of [Part II] was such a bummer for us," he said. "So we knew when we brought her on the show we would find a way to explain and get her side of the story." Ultimately, when Daniel and Ali's break up was brought up in Cobra Kai's season three finale "December 19," Ali explained the football player in question was actually a friend and Daniel's own paranoia thinking it was more ended it. The damage to the car she explained was caused by faulty brake pads Daniel never replaced. The explanation turned out to work handsomely considering both Daniel and Johnny's conduct throughout the series still dictated by emotion and impulsiveness after all these years. It only took the woman they both loved to reach the epiphany that they're both far more alike than they realized. Season three of Cobra Kai is available to stream on Netflix.

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