The Boys director convinced Elisabeth Shue to revive Karate Kid character

Director Dan Trachtenberg convinced Elisabeth Shue to reprise her character in Netflix's Karate Kid spin-off series Cobra Kai, insisting he'd be "devastated" if she wasn't part of the show.

Shue, who portrayed Ali in 1984's The Karate Kid, stunned fans of the film and its updated series when she appeared in two episodes of Cobra Kai's third season, which launched on Friday, and she admits she wasn't even thinking about returning to the screen as the character until she started filming Amazon show The Boys with Trachtenberg.

"To be honest, I really hadn't thought about being on Cobra Kai," she told Entertainment Weekly. "When I showed up on the set for the first day, Dan came right over and said, 'You're doing Cobra Kai, right?' I was like, 'What? I don't know... Do you think that's a good idea?'

"He goes, 'Is that a good idea? You have to be on Cobra Kai!' I said, 'Why, why do you care so much?' He said, 'You have no idea how important The Karate Kid is in my life'. He told me what a great movie it is and how much he loved Cobra Kai, and that it would just be devastating... for the fans and for the memory of The Karate Kid if I wasn't (on the show).

Adding she found Dan's enthusiasm sweet, Elisabeth decided to take the director up on his offer.

"It made me think, 'Oh, I haven't really investigated this'. Then I sat down with the three producers and writers who created it... and they were so lovely and similar to Dan - super Karate Kid fans," she smiled. "They really wanted to wait and have Ali come back this season, primarily I guess because it's a reunion season. I said, 'I'll do whatever you need'."