{"id":548510,"date":"2026-07-14T02:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548510\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T02:59:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:59:21","slug":"nellie-oleson-actor-returns-to-little-house-reboot-in-a-genuinely-creepy-cameo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548510\/","title":{"rendered":"Nellie Oleson Actor Returns to \u2018Little House\u2019 Reboot in a Genuinely Creepy Cameo"},"content":{"rendered":"

She had golden ringlets that were the envy of every girl in town, a sneer that could strike fear in your heart and her merchant parents supplied her with endless amounts of candy.<\/p>\n

We hated her. We loved her. We were endlessly fascinated by her.<\/p>\n

She is Nellie Oleson, as played by Alison Arngrim in the Michael Landon-helmed \u201cLittle House on the Prairie.\u201d And much to viewers\u2019 delight (and understandable fear) she returned in a cameo in the Netflix reboot of the series. <\/p>\n

But this time, the curls were nowhere in sight.<\/p>\n

The 64-year-old Arngrim appeared in the second episode of the new series wearing a dirty dress and a man\u2019s coat and scarf. She had some particularly authentic-looking prairie teeth too. <\/p>\n

\u201cBwahaha!\u201d Arngrim posted on Instagram<\/a> three days ago. \u201cI had SOOOOO much fun doing this! So happy people are enjoying my cameo on the new Little House!\u201d<\/p>\n

Simply listed as \u201cIda\u201d in IMDB.com, Arngrim\u2019s character is \u201ca drifter who Mary and Laura encounter in the woods.\u201d Though Ida tries to coerce the Ingalls girls to stay with her for some seemingly nefarious reasons, they escape in the nick of time.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Tudum<\/a>, Arngrim praised Alice Halsey and Skywalker Hughes, the actors who play Laura and Mary. \u201cThese little girls have r\u00e9sum\u00e9s longer than some people who are 40 or 50 years old, and they\u2019re 12,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Arngrim only had two weeks to prepare for the role of Ida. When she heard about her character\u2019s role in the episode, she remembers thinking, \u201cOh, that\u2019s creepy as all get\u2011out. That sounds right up my alley. I\u2019ll be right over!\u201d<\/p>\n

In portraying Nellie in the original series, Arngrim said in the interview, \u201cI was clearly the villain … and yet people talk about me as iconic and say they love Nellie. They can\u2019t get enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Arngrim isn\u2019t precious about a new actor taking over the role. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for the new Nellie for years,\u201d she said. \u201cRealize \u2014 and this is the tough part \u2014 if you do this correctly, there will be people who will hate you \u2014 and think the show is real. It\u2019s like playing Hannibal Lecter. If you do it right, people will flip out.\u201d <\/p>\n