Elizabeth Berkley’s Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 3 Role, Explained

The following contains spoilers for “Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 3.

“Cobra Kai” might’ve reached its final round, but that hasn’t stopped the show from inviting some impressive guest stars for its last push. In the closing third of Season 6, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) are worried about their dear pal, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto). With the guy still hurt about Kumiko and understandably confused about his feelings for his former enemy, Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), Daniel and Amanda hope to provide some distraction by setting him up on a date with Amanda’s pal Winnie. The two clearly make for a mismatched pair, but for fans hungry for nostalgia, it’s a perfect fit, seeing as Winnie is played by one of the stars of an ’80s staple that’s just as iconic as “The Karate Kid” — namely, “Saved by the Bell” veteran Elizabeth Berkley Lauren.

For four seasons of “Saved by the Bell,” Lauren played Jessie Spano, a legendary member of the Bayside gang and a character who, in one particularly infamous Season 2 subplot, developed an addiction to caffeine pills. That storyline ended with a now heavily memed moment in which Jessie has a breakdown while singing “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters and was even re-enacted by Lauren herself during her time on “Dancing with the Stars” years later. Another notable point in her career was her role in Paul Verhoeven’s 1995 erotic drama “Showgirls,” a film that was initially met with a lot of criticism (much of which was aimed at Lauren, to Verhoeven’s dismay) but has since become a cult classic. 25 years later, Lauren actually got to revisit her role as Jessie in a “Saved by the Bell” revival, and she has “Cobra Kai” to thank for it.

Nowadays, it’s not unusual for older TV and movie franchises to be revived, with “Saved by the Bell” being but one of many examples. In fact, following the success of “Cobra Kai,” one of the show’s original stars, Mario Lopez, thought it would be worth giving it the old Bayside High try. In a 2020 interview with GQ, Lopez commended “Cobra Kai” when it debuted on YouTube (prior to moving to Netflix in Season 3) for the winning formula the series had concocted. “It was such a smart, clever way, the way they blended the nostalgia and this updated version,” praised Lopez, who played A.C. Slater on “Saved by the Bell” during its original run. “So [I said], if we can emulate that, then I’m down.”

The “Saved by the Bell” revival saw Lopez reprise his role as Slater, who was now a high school coach, with Lauren also returning as Jessie (now a school counselor at Bayside High). Unfortunately, the show didn’t last as long as “Cobra Kai” and was canceled after its second season. It seems that unlike “Cobra Kai,” the “Saved by the Bell” revival couldn’t quite recapture the magic of what came before. (It also suffered from a distinct lack of eagle fang.) Nevertheless, it’s great to see Lauren adding some extra nostalgia to “Cobra Kai,” a show that’s managed to get that balance of the old and new just right.

“Cobra Kai” is now streaming in its entirety on Netflix.