Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) plans a massive dojo expansion in Cobra Kai season 5, and this could finally be how Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank) joins Netflix's hit continuation of The Karate Kid. Cobra Kai season 5 picks up after Silver's triumph at the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. Thanks to Cobra Kai's victory, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) were forced to shut down the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang Karate dojos. Silver now gets to enact the plan Daniel-san foiled back in The Karate Kid Part III and mount a Cobra Kai takeover of the San Fernando Valley.

Julie was the heroine of The Next Karate Kid, and she's the second student of Daniel's sensei, the late Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita). Mr. Miyagi traveled to Boston in 1994 and met Julie, an angry orphan who was the granddaughter of one of Miyagi's old friends he served with in World War II. Similar to what happened with Daniel-san, Miyagi saw potential in the troubled teenage girl, who was being bullied in her high school by the Alpha Elite, an ROTC-like club. Miyagi trained Julie in his family's style of karate so that the athletically gifted teenager was able to rid herself of the threat of the Alpha Elite. However, that was the one and only time Julie Pierce was seen in the "Miyagiverse." The Next Karate Kid failed to relaunch the movie franchise, which laid dormant until Cobra Kai continued the saga starting in 2018 and became a global hit series thanks to Netflix.

Related: Was That Really Dutch In The Cobra Kai Season 5 Trailer?

Hilary Swank's Julie Pierce is one of the last remaining Karate Kid legacy characters who has yet to appear in Cobra Kai. Julie's absence is even more notable since she's the only other student whom Mr. Miyagi personally trained. This makes Pierce a "karate cousin" of Daniel LaRusso and, by extension, Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto), Daniel-san's Okinawan former rival-turned-ally. Although it's assumed that Daniel knows of Julie, she hasn't been evoked at all in Cobra Kai in spite of LaRusso's many tribulations and enemies, which has necessitated reaching out for help from people like Chozen. It can be inferred that Daniel and Julie have never met, but then again, it's possible they did cross paths if she attended Mr. Miyagi's funeral in 2011. Ironically, it could be Terry Silver that could bring Julie Pierce to the Valley, at last.

How Cobra Kai's Dojo Expansion Opens The Door For Julie Pierce

Cobra Kai Season 5 Valley War Map

Cobra Kai season 5's trailer shows that Terry Silver's expansion plans are greater than anticipated. Silver is simultaneously opening multiple Cobra Kai dojos all over the Valley, and he's recruiting many new senseis to teach his influx of teenage students, like Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), a South Korean karate master. However, the ponytailed billionaire isn't planning on stopping with Cobra Kai dojos taking over the Valley, and he wants the black and yellow snake brand in other parts of the country and the world. This could be what finally gets Julie Pierce's attention and becomes her call to action. Terry Silver's Cobra Kai breaking free of Southern California and infiltrating where ever Julie lives might be the last straw to make her join Daniel LaRusso's mission to stop Cobra Kai.

The fact that Julie's entire canon in The Karate Kid saga is contained in one movie when she was a senior in high school is actually a huge advantage for Cobra Kai. With almost 30 years of questions to answer, Julie Pierce is an intriguingly open book. Cobra Kai's producers have undoubtedly been thinking about Julie and plotting how to eventually integrate her into the show if Hilary Swank agrees to come aboard. Theoretically, Julie could potentially live anywhere and have any career while still, hopefully, maintaining her Miyagi-Do karate skills. As a blank canvas to fill in, Julie Pierce could enter the Cobra Kai story (in season 5 as a surprise, or possibly in season 6) from any point to become Daniel's long-awaited team-up partner and Terry Silver's new enemy.

Cobra Kai Season 5 premieres September 9th on Netflix.