At this point, it feels like when any chapter of The Karate Kid franchise rolls around, it can't be without pelican-kicking pro Ralph Macchio. The original Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso, returned with his old nemesis Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) for Cobra Kai, and together they helped make the show as successful as the movies, if not more so. But when the franchise was still a trilogy, what stopped Macchio from returning for The Next Karate Kid , where he was replaced by Hilary Swank instead?

Macchio assured Uproxx that it wasn't a rejection of the offer - he just never got the call. Fortunately, he had no animosity towards his colleague, Pat Morita, who played the masterful Mr. Miyagi. "I heard that they are making the film. There was a period of time, for no particular reason, where Pat Morita and I probably weren't (in) as much contact. It had nothing to do with anything...all I have Pat Morita is the utmost love and respect.” Macchio was never clear on why he wasn't called back for The Next Karate Kid, though he speculated that it was a result of the franchise changing hands:

"I know (director) John G. from the studio to move forward, and they got Pat to sign off on the idea."

According to Macchio, he had no tension with anyone—neither his former co-star Pat Morita nor his replacement Hilary Swank—simply because there was no need.

It happens every now and then: A studio will squeeze the last dregs out of a franchise, with or without the original star. Macchio didn't mind, but it was understandably strange for the poster boy of the franchise for ten years to watch someone else hop on one leg for a change:

"It was kind of weird for me." I never spoke to Pat about it after that. Again, for no apparent reason. It wasn't like they came to me and (I) said, 'Oh no, you're never going to do another one of these.' None of that happened. I think it was probably a decision by the studio and the producer at that point, "Hey, let's take this in this direction, let's find another way to go."

As for the star who took his place, Macchio says their real-life encounters didn't lead to the two hitting it off: "I bumped into Hilary Swank once or twice and we had an internal smile about it all."

The question for many Cobra Kai fans, however, is whether we'll ever see Swank and Makio share the screen together. With the third season of Netflix's final season well under way, there's only hope for a sequel, as the show's creators haven't hinted at any big events to come.

With nearly every major figure from The Karate Kid franchise appearing on both sides of the mat appearing in Cobra Kai, Hilary Swank's Julie Pierce is one of the biggest characters absent from its six-part run. seasons. Fans have spoken about her absence, and Macchio himself has admitted it A cameo from Hilary Swank makes sense.

The creators of Cobra Kai have heard these speculations, but they have remained silent on whether she will actually enter Saikai Taikai. Appearance or not, though, we'll obviously get some kind of mention by the end. Talking to CBR in November 2024, executive producer Josh Held answered questions about Julie's place in the Cobra Kai universe:

"Eventually we'll say something about whether or not she's in the show, and how amazing it is, or why she's not." But we don't want to spoil anything by dancing around anything, because we can't talk about all the legacy characters that are coming back and what their involvement is until it actually happens, or until we can give you a glimpse of it."

We can only hope that in the future of the Miyagi-verse, we find room for The Next Karate Kid. After all, there's plenty for everyone to wax on and off.