Will Ali Be in ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3?

Will Elisabeth Shue Resume Her Role as Ali, with an i?

Spoilers about “The Karate Kid” and “Cobra Kai.”

Season 2 of the YouTube, now Netflix, hit “Cobra Kai” left us with a sand-filled cliff hanger. If you haven’t seen it yet, look away from this blog post. If you have, read on for our summary of Ali in “The Karate Kid” and where she fits into the “Cobra Kai” series.

But before we dive into Ali and the “Cobra Kai” franchise, let’s look at her and Daniel’s relationship in “The Karate Kid” movies.

When We Last See Ali in the “The Karate Kid” Movies

“The Karate Kid”

Ali, played by Elisabeth Shue, and Daniel are paired up at the end of the “Karate Kid,” when Daniel, despite “Sweep the leg!” action happening to him defeats Johnny from the nemesis dojo Cobra Kai. Karate Kid II surely would have to reflect on the Daniel-Ali relationship somehow, right? I mean, look at that post-match embrace.

“The Karate Kid ll”

Ten minutes into “The Karate Kid II” Daniel pulls up to Mr. Miyagi’s place with his car, a gift from Mr. Miyagi, a mess. Trivia: What kind of car did Mr. Miyagi give Daniel in “The Karate Kid?” A 1947 Ford Super Deluxe.

The car wasn’t looking so super when Daniel shows up, causing Mr. Miyagi to say “Must have been some senior prom.” Daniel replies with a rant about Ali ruining his car and telling him she fell in love with a football player from UCLA.

For a high school kid so taken with a crush (or so it seemed in the first installment of the films), he doesn’t seem too affected that him and Ali are, most likely, over. I mean, she’s a graduating senior “in love” with a college football player. It’s hard for a high school guy to compete with that, even a guy with an amazing crane kick.

Daniel is also dealing with his mom wanting to take him to Fresno for the summer, so with that and the car and Ali, he has a lot on his plate. Soon enough, Mr. Miyagi fixes two problems for Daniel-san: repairs the car, and lets him stay with him for the summer. But no mention of Ali. I guess there are some issues Mr. Miyagi can’t cure. Daniel has tougher teen crush angst repellant than I ever did if he can just brush off the fact that Ali is now with a guy from UCLA. I couldn’t even deal with John Taylor from Duran Duran getting engaged (I ate half a chocolate cake after hearing the news), not to mention a real life guy in school.

Enough about me and my late-bloomerness, back to the show: Daniel joins Mr. Miyagi on a trip to Japan and 30 minutes into the movie Daniel meets a young woman, Kumiko. Bye-bye Ali.

“The Karate Kid lll”

There is no more mention of Ali in the “The Karate Kid” series, including in Part III. That brings us to…

Ali Mentions in “Cobra Kai”

Season 1 of “Cobra Kai”

Episode 1 of “Cobra Kai,” Johnny, Ali’s boyfriend before Daniel in high school, drives around remembering the good times. Current day is mixed with flashbacks, including a few moments with Ali. When Johnny, struggling at life, and Daniel, prospering in the world, eventually meet, the two mention Ali with “you moved in on my girl” “she wasn’t your girl” talk. Later in the season, Johnny tells his protégé Miguel about Ali and that Daniel stole her away (which is untrue, Ali broke up with him in “The Karate Kid” before meeting Daniel on the beach. She implies Johnny hasn’t accepted that they are broken up).

Episode 3, Daniel is chaperoning his daughter’s Halloween dance when a fellow parent tells Daniel she’s surprised him and Ali broke up. Later, Johnny is putting up flyers at school, he stops and looks at a trophy and sees a photo of Ali.

Episode 9 Daniel and Johnny bond over REO Speedwagon (as one should), then go to a bar where they talk about Ali. Daniel says he doesn’t know much about her but then rattles off where she lives (Denver) and her job (surgeon). They look her up on Facebook but can’t because they’re not “friends” but they do manage to see a photo of her husband, who from what we can tell is a hunky outdoors guy. Johnny and Daniel pretend they don’t care what Ali’s new husband looks like. Daniel says he hasn’t Facebook friended Ali out of respect to his wife.

Trivia: Which REO Speedwagon song were Daniel and Johnny singing in the car?

Daniel and Johnny do the ‘head bob while singing’ move to REO Speedwagon’s “Take it on the Run.” Check out all “Cobra Kai” ‘80s references here.

Season 2 of “Cobra Kai”

Daniel talks with his heartbroken daughter Sam about his first love Judy (who is referenced in “The Karate Kid” when Daniel and his mom move from the East Coast to the Valley) and his even greater love, Ali. When Sam asks what happened he says it’s a story for another time, kind of implying it’s a bit deeper than she left him for a football player, like we see in “The Karate Kid II.”

Johnny has a former Cobra Kai guys trip with Bobby, Tommy and Jimmy (apparently Gen-X guys had to have “y” in their name). At a bar Johnny reminisces with the guys about forgetting Ali’s birthday in high school. Tommy reveals he had a crush on her in high school. Johnny says she is the one that got away (guess he shouldn’t have ruined her boombox on the beach in “The Karate Kid”).

After figuring out how to use technology, Johnny composes a Facebook message for Ali, accidentally sending it when someone bumps into him at a bar (Facebook and bars don’t mix, we all know that).

Season 2 ends with a distraught Johnny throwing his phone onto the beach with the final scene a shot of his phone in the sand, Ali sending him a Facebook friend request.

“Cobra Kai” Season 3 Possibilities

There is a lot of speculation about what Season 3 of Cobra Kai will bring. One assumes that the producers are all in on getting Shue to reprise the role of Ali. To get her interested in returning it definitely helps that “Cobra Kai” is a hit, not that she needs it, Shue is on a hit show herself, “The Boys.” If Shue does return, what kind of situation will they put her in? Just passing through town? High school reunion? Cameo? Appear in all episodes? What?!

I’ve seen some mention, can’t even remember where, that “Cobra Kai” bad girl “Tory with a ‘y’” could be “Ali with an I’s” daughter. Gasp. Let’s not do that. The antagonist of “Cobra Kai” should be like “The Karate Kid” movies where they made one appearance. You don’t see Chozen in “The Karate Kid III” do you? It would be one way to tie in Ali to the current day storyline but I say NO. I think high school reunion is a good option, that way the writers can infuse even more ‘80s nostalgia into the show.

Stay tuned. “Cobra Kai” returns to Netflix January 8.

UPDATED January 2021 to say YES! Ali returns to the “Karate Kid” world in Cobra Kai Season 3. I think the way they handled her storyline was great, but you can judge for yourselves and tell us in comments. What did you think? Should Ali have returned? Should she have been in Season 3 more?

For more “Cobra Kai” news see our Season 1 review here and our “Cobra Kai” Season 2 review here.