Posted in: Cobra Kai, Netflix, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: cobra kai, hilary swank, pat morita, Ralph Macchio, sony, the karate kid, william zabka

So What Does Sony's 2024 "The Karate Kid" Film Mean for Cobra Kai?

Sony provided major updates to their theatrical releases, and among them is arguably the biggest eyebrow-raiser in a new The Karate Kid film set for release on June 7, 2024. Netflix recently released season five of the franchise series Cobra Kai earlier in September, having reintroduced almost all the major characters from the films, the latest was The Karate Kid Part III (1989) stars Sean Kanan (Mike Barnes) and Robin Lively (Jessica Andrews). The only other major star to not appear in Cobra Kai is The Next Karate Kid star Hilary Swank, who played Julie Pierce. So what could this mean? Just speculating… 2024 would put the series around a seventh season (assuming Season 6 is hitting in 2023). With talk of expanding the franchise's universe, this could be the perfect time to wrap up the sequel series and branch off into whatever spinoff decisions end up being announced. And for a series like Cobra Kai, wrapping things up on the silver screen would add to the nail-biting drama the series has become known for. Then again, maybe they could go "The X-Files" route and use a film as a bridge between a sixth and (maybe final?) seventh season. Again, pure speculation but worth keeping an eye on…

How Ralph Macchio Defines The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai's Miyagi-verse

Ralph Macchio, who starred in the first three The Karate Kid films along with the Netflix series, stated that Swank's character is part of the Miyagi-verse and the window remains open for her to appear on Cobra Kai. He defines the Miyagi-verse where Pat Morita's character was involved. With season five, there was nothing to allude to a potential appearance from Swank, nor was there a post-credit tease. Macchio also said the 2010 remake that starred Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith doesn't exist in the same universe.

Hilary Swank on Julie Pierce's Future

While promoting her latest ABC series, Swank remained mum. "I was told that I'm supposed to only keep it to 'Alaska Daily', so I guess that question is for another time." The upcoming release date for the newest Karate Kid film could be giving us an idea of the future of Netflix's Cobra Kai. There's also no reason to believe that we won't still see Martin Kove's John Kreese and/or Thomas Ian Griffith's Terry Silver still remaining active on the show or even new villains for Daniel, Johnny (William Zabka), and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) to face on top of the ongoing developing arcs with the younger cast.

Deadline Hollywood

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