Why Isn’t Aisha on ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3?

YouTube Aisha (Nichole Brown) joins Cobra Kai In Season 1 Episode 4.

Fans of Cobra Kai may be disappointed to find out that series regular Nichole Brown, who portrays Aisha Robinson, will not be returning for the show’s third season, as reported by Screen Rant. 

Brown’s character had a strong arc in the first two seasons of the popular series. Aisha was first introduced as Samantha LaRusso’s (Mary Mouser) nerdy friend, who she ditches for West Valley High School’s queen bees Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane) and Moon (Hannah Kepple). In Season 1, Episode 3, “Esqueleto,” Yasmine cruelly shared a GIF of Aisha enjoying food at the Halloween dance with the caption “the buffet table is under attack” seemingly to the entire school. This caused a further divide in Samantha and Aisha’s friendship. The character eventually joins Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) dojo Cobra Kai and is portrayed as a skilled fighter. Also, she is no longer reserved and does not have a problem sticking up for herself. 

Cobra Kai‘s Co-Showrunners Commented Upon Nichole Brown’s Departure

Cobra Kai’s co-showrunner and executive producer Jon Hurwitz provided some context to Nichole Brown’s departure in a recent interview with TVLine. He explained that he thinks highly of the actress and noted that the characters Kyler (Joe Seo), Louie LaRusso, Jr. (Bret Ernst), and Yasmine were not featured in the acclaimed series’ second season. According to Screen Rant, each of those characters will make an appearance in Cobra Kai Season 3, which implies that Aisha may also eventually be brought back on to the show. 

“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,” said Hurwitz to TVLine. 

During the same interview, the show’s other co-showrunner and executive producer Josh Heald also commented on Aisha’s absence, stating, 

“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.”

Nichole Brown Revealed That She Was Not Returning To Cobra Kai In September 2019

Brown revealed that she was not going to be involved with Cobra Kai Season 3 over a year ago. In September 2019, the actress uploaded an Instagram story that read,

“Officially NOT in season 3 of #CobraKai… Unfortunate, but thank you for the opportunity. (I did need it, as some of y’all know I’m not good financially right now, and did need the job…) But again, thank you for the opportunity, and the time I had on the show.” 

Despite no longer being a part of production, Brown still regularly posts about Cobra Kai on her Instagram account. For instance, on September 26, 2020, she shared behind-the-scene photos from Season 2 Episode 2, entitled “Back in Black.” 

“Watch @cobrakaiseries on @netflix! It’s amazing! #cobrakai #netflix #nomercy,” read a portion of the post’s caption.

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