Cobra Kai Creator Claims “Nothing Would Make Me Happier” Than a Cameo From This Karate Kid Star

Cobra Kai has become quite the phenomenon as fans have flocked to the YouTube Premium-produced Karate Kid spinoff series. The creator would like to see one of the classic faces from the original film make an appearance in Season 3. Jon Hurwitz, the creator of Cobra Kai, answered a question on Twitter about actress Elisabeth Shue appearing in the upcoming season.

Now, as fans know, Shue starred opposite Ralph Maccio’s Daniel LaRusso as Alli Mills in the original The Karate Kid. Since then, she has always carried a sort of cache among fans of the film. When Cobra Kai began it’s run, fans immediately asked if they would ever see her on-screen with how the drama plays on events from the films. Hurwitz is all too ready to fan the flames here.

The tweet comes on the heel of news that Cobra Kai‘s first season is now available to stream for free. Season 1’s free preview lasts until September 12th and the third season should debut sometime in the spring. Both of the first two seasons were reviewed very well, and the fans agreed because the following has only increased during the show’s run.

Other evidence of the property picking up steam would be the recent announcement of a project between YouTube and IDW to release a Cobra Kai tie-in comic book. The show is a clever riff on a popular Internet theory that Johnny is actually the hero of the Karate Kid and the main character, Daniel is actually not all he’s cracked up to be. (Think about it, he kind of cheated to win the tournament and stole his rival’s girlfriend.)

Even before a viral video lit the torch that would carry the show, a CBS sitcom actually got audiences ready for the idea of a Johnny-based Karate Kid reimagining. In a 2009 episode of How I Met Your Mother, Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) shocks his friends when he admits that he roots for Cobra Kai every time he watches The Karate Kid.

“The Stinsons” goes further in having Barney sort of interrogate why the movie would be called The Karate Kid, when Daniel hasn’t even been doing it for that long. The character alludes to Johnny as deserving of the victory because he worked hard at it. How I Met Your Mother even paid off this gag a couple of years later when Zabaka is at both Barney’s bachelor party and his wedding. The rest of it is history after that fateful YouTube video.

Cobra Kai started last year and begins a couple of decades after the original film. The iconic rivalry between John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) has begun a new chapter as both men have started their own dojos. Their beef spreads to a new generation of students as the two must navigate their lives in the aftermath of the All-Valley Championship.