Cobra Kai: Why was Aisha written off the show? Reason explored

Netflix’s Cobra Kai launched part 3 of its final season on February 13, 2025, and quickly became one of the most highly acclaimed shows. The show takes place 34 years after the events of the original Karate Kid movies and revolves around the stories of Daniel LaRusso’s (Ralph Macchio), Johnny Lawrence’s ( William Zabka) Dojos, and their students.

Other than Daniel and Johnny’s characters, the show also introduced many new characters that have now become fan favorites. One of those characters was Aisha Robinson, played by Nichole Brown. However, her character had a short run in the show as she did not return in Season 3 and had a guest-starring role in Season 4.

As reported by The Direct, Nichole Brown informed her fans through an Instagram post that she will not be returning in Season 3 and also stated the reason was the writers did not know what to do with her character anymore.

More about this in our story.

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Why Nichole Brown's Aisha did not appear in Season 3?

Aisha Robinson was introduced in Season 1 of Cobra Kai and was Samantha LaRusso’s ( Played by Mary Mouser) best friend. However, their friendship was strained after Mouser’s Samantha befriended some of Aisha’s bullies such as Hannah Kepple’s Moon and Annalisa Cochrane’s Yasmine.

She then joined Johnny Lawrence’s Cobra Kai Dojo, becoming the first female student of the Dojo and second after Miguel Diaz ( Xolo Mariduena). She was also part of the All Valley Karate tournament in Season 1. In Season 2, she became Tory Nichol’s ( Peyton List) friend, who was Samantha’s rival. In the season finale, Brown’s Aisha was a part of the School fight that injured Mariduena’s Miguel.

After that, Nichole Brown did not return in Season 3.

In an interview with TV Line in 2020, Jon Hurwitz, co-creator of Cobra Kai, mentioned the issue of Brown’s Aisha not returning in Season 3. He said:

"We love Aisha and we love Nichole Brown. Certain characters we loved in Season 1 didn’t appear at all in Season 2, like Kyler, Yasmine and Louie. Before the season, we told Nichole the same thing we told those actors: That just because a character doesn’t appear for a period of time doesn’t mean they’ve left the universe, that they can’t return again. We love that character, and perhaps we’ll see her again one day."

Co-creator Josh Heald agreed to this and added:

"We have a long story left to tell. We tend to look at the show in a very long view, where entrances and exits are impactful and important. Sometimes people need to exit to make their [re-entry] a little bit different and bigger."

In season 4, Brown’s character, Aisha returned in a guest-starring role. It was revealed then that Aisha had quit Karate and had moved to Santa Barbara due to her Dad getting a job offer at the University of California.

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More about Aisha from Cobra Kai

After Season 4, Brown’s Aisha never returned to Cobra Kai. However, in Season 6 Part 1, Samantha mentions Aisha, giving fans an update on what she was up to. Samantha mentioned that Aisha got her acceptance letter from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Although Brown’s Aisha might not have returned to the show, the brief mention in the final season confirms that she was still part of the huge Cobra Kai universe.

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Read More:

1) Does Karate Kid: Legends acknowledge the events of Cobra Kai?

2) Cobra Kai creator explains why Tory's Sekai Taikai final victory made more sense