Ralph Macchio Reveals COBRA KAI's Back-Up Plan If a Specific Actor Had Not Signed On

By now I am sure that you have either watched Season 3 of Cobra Kai or heard the news of each of the characters that they brought back, but if not, here’s your warning that we are talking about such things in this article.

This season saw the return of the beloved character Ali Mills from the film where it all started, The Karate Kid. Elisabeth Shue reprised her role and was so enchanting. She moved the story forward, seemingly uniting the two main characters, Daniel and Johnny, setting things right in the world of Cobra Kai. But her appearance in the series was not as set in stone as fans expected when we saw that friend request appear from Ali on Johnny’s phone at the end of Season 2. As of the end of the second season, Shue had not yet signed on to appear in the series.

So what would have happened if Shue had not been available to return to the role? In a recent interview with CinemaBlend, Ralph Macchio revealed the showrunners’ backup plan for the Facebook correspondence between Johnny and Ali in the case it didn’t go as planned.

There was an alternate plan if she wasn’t available. . . . That was the fallback, the ‘how are we gonna vacuum ourselves out of the room’ from what we’ve written, which would be her husband was doing the Facebook back-and-forth with Johnny.

Johnny getting catfished by Ali’s husband?! That’s harsh, and it would not have garnered nearly as sweet an episode as we got with episode 9, titled “Feel the Night.” It was my favorite episode of my favorite season, and I am so glad that Shue came back to play Ali. Her storyline was better than I could have imagined, and I am so happy with how it turned out.