As legends of the Karate Kid universe were reprised for streaming and the big screen, one former Mr. Miyagi protégé hasn’t been seen in more than 30 years.
Josh Heald, who co-created Netflix‘s Cobra Kai with Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, revealed that they attempted to get Hilary Swank to reprise her The Next Karate Kid (1994) role as Julie Pierce in the recent sixth and final season.
“We did reach out in the very early days before the season to see if there was a path [for her to appear],” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We had an inkling of an idea about how she could come into this story and not have to commit to 10 episodes or something.
The trio reached out to Swank’s team with “the beginnings of a genesis of an idea” about how Julie could return to the onscreen universe, hoping to “have a discussion with her about it and introduce ourselves.”
“On her end, it was very respectful, but we never got that opportunity to sit down and pour our heart out the way that we typically do when we bring back characters from the legacy,” said Heald.
Pat Morita and Hilary Swank in ‘The Next Karate Kid’ (1994) (Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)
The 2x Oscar-winning actress “was just in a place where she wasn’t looking to do that,” said Heald, adding that she gave them “a respectful pass on the idea of even a meeting.”
“She didn’t want us to go through the trouble of flying out to her and putting our heart on the sleeve,” he explained. “Because it just wasn’t something she was ready to do at that moment.”
Heald sees the character as “a big piece of the Miyagi-verse that’s still out there” following this year’s Karate Kid: Legends, which brought back Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han and William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence.
“For us, it was a little disappointing because we like getting everybody, but at the same time, we didn’t sacrifice any huge story that we had fully developed,” added Heald. “It’s more fruit on the vine for if we can revisit this universe going forward.”
