Alison Arngrim, who played the original Nellie, weighed in on the choice.

Meet the Little House on the Prairie reboot’s villainous Nellie Oleson: ‘Bow down and tremble before her’

Alison Arngrim, who played the original Nellie, weighed in on the choice.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

EW's editorial guidelines

May 27, 2026 9:47 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Alison Arngrim and Willa Dunn. Credit:

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Curtis & Court

- The Netflix reboot of TV's *Little House on the Prairie* announced Wednesday that Willa Dunn will play Nellie Oleson.

- Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie on the original show, teased that "another has been chosen."

- The show debuts on the streamer July 9.

*Little House on the Prairie*'s new Nellie OIeson has arrived.

On Wednesday, Netflix announced the young actress who will play protagonist Laura's nemesis. Willa Dunn will join the cast in the show's second season, which has already been ordered, even though the reboot has yet to debut.

Dunn has appeared on shows including *Only Murders in the Building* and *Poker Face*.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

The official description of the character, the daughter of the town's rich, mercantile-owning family, lines up perfectly with what fans of the original series remember.

"On the surface, Nellie is a world-class spoiled princess and a playground bully," the streamer said in a release. "Smart and supremely confident, sharp-tongued but easily wounded. Lives and breathes to make Laura Ingalls miserable. But beneath her mean-girl persona is tenderness and a yearning for true friendship — even if she doesn't know exactly how to get it."

In her new role, Dunn will costar alongside a cast led by Alice Halsey, who will play the main character of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Melissa Gilbert played the part in the original, which aired from 1974 to 1983.

'Little House on the Prairie' boss previews reboot's 'leap into the great unknown' (exclusive)

Melissa Gilbert discovers real-life family connection to her 'Little House on the Prairie' character

The extensive cast also includes Luke Bracey, as Laura's father, Charles; Crosby Fitzgerald, as her mother, Caroline; and Skywalker Hughes, as her older sister, Mary.

Alison Arngrim, the actress who originated the role of Nellie, quickly gave her approval — in a very dramatic, Nellie-like fashion.

"Today, another has been chosen," she captioned a screenshot of a news story about the casting on social media. "All hail she, whom they call 'Willa'!! Like the one before her, she has risen from deep in the city of Gotham, to stand and take the ringlet crown. Bow down and tremble before her new majesty the new Nellie, Miss Willa Dunn!!"

Then she added more seriously, "Who I hear is a perfectly nice little girl and will do a great job!"

Skywalker Hughes and Alice Halsey on the new 'Little House'.

Eric Zachanowich/Netflix

Before Dunn is introduced on the show, viewers will meet the Ingalls family, as depicted in Ingalls' beloved children's books. It's the second season where audiences will encounter Nellie's nasty ways, when the Ingalls and Olesons meet in the late 1800s in Walnut Grove, Minn.

Arngrim, who's embraced the hatred from audiences — she titled her 2010 memoir *Confessions of a Prairie Bitch* — explained at a cast reunion in December the moment, when she was walking in a Christmas parade, that she had realized that emotions toward her character ran deep.

"Someone threw an orange soda at my face," Arngrim said, per PEOPLE. She understood then that she had "hit some kind of nerve."

The new *Little House on the Prairie* arrives July 9 on Netflix.

- TV Development

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW TV”