Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage(NEW YORK) — With the second season of the Karate Kid spin-off Cobra Kai currently streaming and a third season on the way, some fans have been wondering if we’ll ever see a return of Daniel LaRusso’s first love, Ali, who was played by Elisabeth Shue.
Shue’s character was rather unceremoniously written out of The Karate Kid: Part 2, and even though she went on to star in the sequels to Back to the Future, and even got an Oscar nomination for Leaving Las Vegas, she hasn’t forgotten the snub.
“In Karate Kid 2, my character was kind of pushed aside in a way that didn’t feel so great. So it’s funny how the idea of Ali coming back [started],” she told ABC Radio. “At first, I thought, “Well, her character really left the world of The Karate Kid in a way that wasn’t so great…would people care about her coming back?'”
Thinking back, Shue laughed as she tried to recall Ali’s fate. “I forget — what? Did she go off with some football player or something?”
Yep — he played for UCLA. It gets a quick mention in the second film.
“So I was interested in why they wanted Ali to come back in some ways,” Shue said, before adding, “I’ll see you know, how it goes.”
But Shue is pleased that Karate Kid fans online want to see her on Cobra Kai.
“It makes me happy that people care about Ali — with an ‘i’,” she laughs. “I’m glad they care about her character. That makes me happy.”
It also made Shue happy to learn that Avengers: Endgame, which includes a lot of time travel, mentions to Back to the Future several times.
“They actually reference the film?! No way!” she exclaimed. “That’s so funny!”
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