Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 6 Part 1 of Cobra Kai.
It’s impressive that the Netflix seriesCobra Kai,for the most part, has been able to retain the vast majority of its main and supporting cast throughout all six seasons. There are very few major players who have come and gone on this show, and for the most part, everyone has consistently contributed to theKarate Kidlegacy. But betweenCobra Kai’s move from YouTube to Netflix, one cast member in particular was sacrificed on the streaming altar, which was shocking to fans given how involved in the narrative she was. If you haven’t guessed already, or had somehow forgotten about her, we’re talking aboutNichole Brown’s character Aisha Robinson. Years after we last saw her on screen,Season 6 Part 1has finally given us an update about Aisha’s future…
Thirty-four years after events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, a down-and-out Johnny Lawrence seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai dojo, reigniting his rivalry with a now successful Daniel LaRusso.
‘Cobra Kai’ Season 6 Gives Us a Much-Needed Aisha Update
AsourCobra Kaiheroesprepare for the Sekai Taikai, head into their senior year, and start applying for colleges, everyone has different ideas on their mind. Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) is hoping to get into Stanford, Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) wants to go to M.I.T. with Hawk (Jacob Bertrand), and others like Robby (Tanner Buchanan) and Tory (Peyton List) don’t quite know what their future holds. To say that our favorite charactersaren’tstressed heading into the sixth and final season would be a gross misrepresentation. But these aren’t the onlyCobra Kaistars that the new season gives us an update on. As we hear from Sam LaRusso (Mary Mouser) in the episode “Best of the Best,“Aisha recently got an acceptance letter of her own from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Before the events ofCobra Kai,Sam and Aisha were best friends. Unfortunately, all of that changed when Sam became friends with some of Aisha’s bullies — Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane) and Moon (Hannah Kepple) — which drove a wedge between them. Eventually, Aisha joined Miguel at Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) Cobra Kai, quickly becoming one of the dojo’s top students. Butthe Cobra Kai policy of “Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy.” became a mantra that Aisha and her friends lived by, turning her into the same sort of bully that she previously avoided. After a major Cobra Kai vs. Miyagi-Do battle in the halls of West Valley High — which resulted in Miguel being paralyzed and temporarily put in a coma — Aisha was pulled out of school by her parents, who sent her to private school elsewhere.
After years of not hearing from Aisha, who last appeared as a guest in Season 4,Cobra Kaifinally gives us an update on Aisha’s life. From the very beginning of the show,Aisha was one of the smartest students at West Valley. This was part of the reason she was bullied in the first place. But her devotion to Cobra Kai took her attention off her studies and focused on her physical prowess. Having been separated from the style of karate that turned her into the worst version of herself, it seems that Aisha has gone back to excelling in her education, and fought to get herself into a local school not far from home.
Aisha Was Written off ‘Cobra Kai’ Once the Show Moved to Netflix
But why was Aisha written offCobra Kaiin the first place? Well, when the show moved to Netflix beginning with its third season (after first being a part of the YouTube Red and then YouTube Premium platforms), the writers just didn’t know what more to do with her. After Tory was introduced in Season 2, and the way the story was headed, it didn’t seem like they had any more plans for Aisha or her story. “We love Aisha and we love Nichole Brown,” co-showrunnerJon Hurwitztold TV Line back in 2020, mentioning that she could return again later on. “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.”
Hurtitz would be right, of course.Brown returned as Aisha in the Season 4 episode “Kicks Get Chicks,” where she and Sam reforge their bond after all their previous karate drama. The pair were best friends a lifetime ago, and Aisha’s brief return helped Sam to overcome her initial reservations about Tory returning to high schoolafter their previous fight. The episode also reveals that Aisha didn’t just move because of karate (though that was a major factor also), but because her dad got a job at the University of California, Santa Barbara. And to date, this is the last we ever saw of the character, which is a shame given how important she was to the series early on.
In many ways,Aisha is Johnny’s best success story (sans Miguel) from the early years of his revived Cobra Kai. Though John Kreese (Martin Kove) would later turn it against him, into something more maniacal than Johnny had intended, the lessons that Aisha learned from Johnny carried on into her new school. There she learned that “striking first” meant to set the terms for her own life, not just breaking people’s noses. In effect, she ended up turning a potential bully into one of her new best friends, and, as a result, completely turned her life around due to her karate experience. Even without Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), Aisha was able to learn balance and self-control all on her own.
Aisha Robinson Should Return in ‘Cobra Kai’s Final Season
WithCobra Kainow in its sixth and final season (and with 10 episodes left over the next two releases), there’s no doubt thatNichole Brownshouldreturn as Aisha Robinson for one final reunion with her old friends. Whether that means she comes to visit before heading off to college or arrives as a reinforcementto aid our Miyago-Do heroesagainst Kreese’s new Cobra Kai forces, who cares? But given the large ensemble cast thatCobra Kaihas amassed over the years, it wouldn’t feel like a real and complete ending unless all the main players from the start, including Aisha, get their final due. Considering thatCobra Kaiis a natural at pulling in characters from the originalKarate Kidfranchise, even for brief appearances,it should be able to do the same with characters from early on who have been seemingly forgotten.
Even characters like Kyler (Joe Seo), Louie (Bret Ernst), Yasmine, and others all appeared in the first third of Season 6, giving us hope that just maybe Aisha could return down the line too. Given how much the character has grown all on our own, apart from the standard West Valley High drama,she might be a major source of hope for our heroes, especially if Johnny were to consider giving up karate following the Sekai Taikai. Her Cobra Kai success story might just be the push that our heroes need to reconcile themselves to their karate opponents, including Tory. Nichole Brown may have been written offCobra Kaijust as the show got popular, but Aisha Robinson certainly made her markon theKarate Kidcontinuation.
Cobra KaiSeason 6 Part 1 is available for streaming on Netflix.
