The reception to the third season of Cobra Kai has been largely phenomenal. The popularity of the series on Netflix also continues to be huge after the debut of the show’s first and second seasons on Netflix several months ago. The third season brought back a favorite from the original Karate Kid movie, as well as Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) and Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) from The Karate Kid Part II. The season itself also produced some exceptional fight choreography, provided another crowd-pleasing ending, and set itself up for a great fourth season.
However, while Cobra Kai appropriately sidelined the worst character on the series, it, unfortunately, failed to bring back one of the best: Aisha Robinson. Recall that Aisha was the second student to join the new generation of Cobra Kai, and she was an important bridge between Miguel and the growth of Johnny’s dojo. The first season did a remarkable job of exploring Aisha’s faltering friendship with Samantha LaRusso, whose popularity grew as Aisha remained a target of bullies. Aisha’s role, unfortunately, was reduced in the second season, although she and Samantha strengthened their old friendship.
Unfortunately, Aisha was written out of the third season, only briefly mentioned to establish that her character had been disenrolled from West Valley High School after the brawl at the end of the second season. Being written out of the third season was not actress Nichole Brown’s decision, as she explained in September 2019 on Instagram (via Reddit), saying that she “needed” the acting job because her financial situation was “not good.”
Aishas absence has been noticeable. In fact, a number of fans of Cobra Kai finishing up the series have expressed disappointment in her absence on social media.
#CobraKai season 3 was amazing in every way except where was our girl, Aisha??
—
(@amskeez47) January 4, 2021
On the real, bring Aisha back. Good character and, legit, was the 3rd best Cobra. #CobraKai
— A Man Called Tez (@MansaMusaThe7th) January 3, 2021
Okay, I definitely stayed up cause I could not stop watching #CobraKai what an AMAZING season. Definitely missed Aisha a lot but otherwise it was a pretty good third season. Can’t wait for the fourth one!
— Alejandro (@DammitAlexx) January 5, 2021
I miss Aisha, but season 3 brings even more fun. #CobraKai
— Taylor (@tkasony) January 2, 2021
Enjoying season 3 of #CobraKai but missing Aisha already! Where is she? She was in since episode 1 and there were only 3 girls in the dojos, I miss her presence.
— Fiona Henderson (@lillie450) January 3, 2021
Fans can take some solace in the fact that the show’s showrunner and co-creator, Hayden Schlossberg, has not ruled out her return in Season 4, although he also makes no promises. “Well we don’t want to get too much into detail about why we do certain things,” he told Comicbook.com. “If it is going to affect things in the future, that would be a spoiler.”
Schlossberg also added that, “as you’ve seen in Season 3, characters who maybe you thought were no longer a part of the story, do come back and play a role … and so, people who want to see Aisha again, I think that’s how we would respond to that, without giving anything away.”
In other words, no promises, but if it ends up that her return works in the context of the Season 4 storyline, the fan-favorite could make a rousing return to the series.
Cobra Kai season three is currently available on Netflix.