'Cobra Kai' Season 5: Key Character From 'The Karate Kid' Franchise Makes Cameo Appearance

Spoilers for Cobra Kai Season 5 ahead. Cobra Kai is known for its cameo appearances, and Season 5 doesn't disappoint. Along with Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) appearing in the new season, Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively) from The Karate Kid Part III appears in Episode 5. And in an interesting twist, we find out that Jessica is the cousin of Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler). In the episode, Jessica reveals that it was her that got Amanda in touch with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) when she moved to Los Angeles. 

Amanda and Daniel are not on the best terms at this point of the season. In Episode 4, the two get into a big fight which is caused by Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). Daniel is looking to end Silver but Amanda wants him to stop the pursuit. Amanda leaves Daniel and takes the kids with her. She goes to her mom's house in Ohio and meets up with Jessica. And once Amanda tells Jessica about Silver, Jessica then tells Amanda how much pain Silver caused Daniel when he was a kid, which is all chronicled in The Karte Kid Part III. And in one of the best scenes of the season, Amanda, Jessica, and Samantha (Mary Mouser) get into a bar fight with some bullies from Amanda and Jessica's past. 

In The Karate Kid Part III, Daniel and Jessica were good friends but never lovers. Jessica was in Los Angeles after leaving Ohio but told Daniel she was going back to reconcile with her boyfriend. While appearing on the Below the Belt Show in 2017, Lively explained why Jessica couldn't be Daniel's love interest in The Karate Kid Part III. 

"I was scripted to be the girlfriend," Lively said, per KNews.Media. "But then the age difference was so awkward that they ended up changing it so that I would just be his friend. I was 16. He was quite a bit older than me then. He was married. I was just a teenager."  Macchio was 27 when The Karate Kid Part III was in production, but in the movie, Daniel and Jessica are 18. Silver was the main villain in the film, but John Kreese (Martin Kove) made an appearance as Silver and Kreese are good friends. That can't be said in Cobra Kai as Silver put Kreese in prison by framing him for the attack on Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser).