Ralph Macchio regrets how Elisabeth Shue's The Karate Kid character was written out of the films

Before returning in Netflix’s beloved The Karate Kid spinoff series Cobra Kai, Elisabeth Shue’s character of Ali Mills hadn’t been seen since the release of the original film. While Shue seemed destined to return as Ralph Macchio’s girlfriend in the sequel film, her character was instead written out of the franchise in one single line, with Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso stating they’d broken up. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Macchio discussed his regret over how Shue’s character was handled all these years later.

“I never looked at it from the perspective of Ali’s character or from the perspective of Elisabeth as an actor,” said the Cobra Kai actor. “As an older person, there was a recognition of missteps, of things I should have done differently.”

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Feeling remorse over not speaking with Shue at the time or standing up to the producers of The Karate Kid Part II, he added, “I dunno. They probably would have said to me, ‘Get outside, Macchio, and start practicing your karate kicks...’ Today, I think, there would be a different conversation.”

“Women in movies were often thought to be disposable,” continued Macchio. “I see that now. Then? I didn’t see it. It was a case of youth being wasted on the young. I was swept up in everything that was happening in my life.”

In recent years, Shue has spoken up about the not-so-great feeling of being written out of The Karate Kid film series and her eventual reprisal of Ali in Cobra Kai.

“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],” said The Boys actor to ABC News Radio back in 2019. “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?’”

Fans of the original series and Cobra Kai’s creators cared a whole ton about having her back, causing Shue to return as Ali in season three of the hit series. Along with series creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, Schue helped tweak the story behind her character’s disappearance. The spinoff series added a more solid explanation based on Daniel’s failure as a teen boy to communicate, rather than the one The Karate Kid Part II gave of her leaving him for a UCLA football player.

“We didn’t like that reason. Elisabeth didn’t like that reason. So we tried to think of a way to make a way that didn’t make Daniel out to be a liar but also gave Ali her own side of the story,” said Schlossberg during an interview with Insider in 2021.