The first part of Cobra Kai Season 6 recently dropped on Netflix with some pretty interesting storylines unveiled in the new season. When looking back at the previous seasons, fans will definitely miss one character who was written out of the show for the most bizarre reason. Nichole Brown’s Aisha Robinson was Johnny Lawrence’s second student of the new generation of Cobra Kai in the first season.
Aisha is often bullied for her looks and her weight at West Valley High and when she finds Johnny’s Cobra Kai Dojo, she decides to join. She gets back at her bullies during a particularly badass moment in Season 1. Daniel LaRusso even finds her to be a positive influence on his daughter Sam.
Why Was Aisha Robinson Written Out Of Cobra Kai?
During the final episode of Cobra Kai Season 2, Nichole Brown’s Aisha inadvertently gets involved in a brawl at school. She initially tries to break a fight that broke out between Peyton List‘s Tory and Mary Mouser’s Sam. However, when a boy tries to attack her, she beats him up. The episode ended with Xolo Maridueña‘s Miguel falling off a balcony and Aisha staring down at him.
Before Season 3, Brown shared on her Instagram story that she was no longer a part of the show (via ScreenRant). According to Brown, the writers “couldn’t find a place” for her character in the upcoming seasons, despite being Johnny Lawrence’s second favorite student.
In Season 3, fans were informed that Aisha’s parent had disenrolled her from West Valley High and moved up north. It was also hinted that she did not side with John Kreese when he took over the dojo after the brawl. During an interview with TVLine, showrunner Jon Hurwitz talked about writing out the character.
Hurwitz shared that several characters were written out of the show after Season 1. He shared that the showrunners had informed her about her character not appearing for a period of time. However, Hurwitz hinted that Brown might return to the show in the future. He shared with TVLine:
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.
Aisha did return to the fourth season of the show, but not as the badass karate kid fans saw in Seasons 1 & 2. She had gained her weight back and quit karate altogether. She reveals in the episode to Sam that the reason why she moved was not because of the brawl but because her father got a new job offer.
Fans Believe That Her Absence Impacted Johnny Lawrence As A Sensei
Fans on Reddit expressed that they would’ve preferred the character of Aisha to be still in the series. u/MonkeeFace89 shared on the Cobra Kai subreddit that removing Aisha’s character was a bad move from the showrunners. The user believed that her character was not valued enough despite being a constant presence alongside Miguel.
The user also accused that the show wrote out the badass character to make Tory the Queen Cobra. u/Lefthand-82 agreed with the OP, sharing that Aisha was a “fine line between badass and not necessarily a bully being aggressive.“ The user shared that she was Johnny Lawrence’s second favorite student and taking her out of the show “didn’t do any favors to Johnny character as a sensei.”
u/JHSWarrior shared that they had no problem with Tory being the Queen Cobra, but wanted Aisha back in Johnny’s new dojo in Season 4. The user shared, “The dynamics between Sam at Miyagi-do, Aisha at Eagle Fang, and Tory at Cobra Kai would’ve been much more interesting and compelling in S4-S5 than what we actually got.”
Cobra Kai Season 6 is now available for streaming on Netflix.
