‘Little House on the Prairie’: Alison Arngrim on the Role She Wants in a Reboot – and Who She’d Cast as Nellie
Michael Landon assembled a talented cast when he created Little House on the Prairie in 1974. Alison Arngrim landed the plum role of mean girl Nellie Oleson, and previously shared her hopes for a reboot of the historical drama. The Little House alum also has a pick in mind to reprise her infamous character.
‘Little House’ cast remains close
Arngrim is always game for reuniting with her Little House cast members and shared that they all stay in touch with each other.
“The camaraderie, the relationships, thank God, they’re still going,” she told Fox News in 2019. “Many of us do live in L.A. and those who don’t, we are all on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter… we’re always harassing each other on the Internet all the time.”
With reboots of classic TV shows flooding the airwaves, the Little House alum revealed that she and her former co-stars are open to a reprisal of the beloved historical drama.
“I think if they rebooted it for TV, they could get away with it,” Arngrim said. “There’s only so much of us left, but we’d definitely all do it.”
Alison Arngrim has her eyes on ‘Mrs. Oleson’ role
Arngrim described her vision for a reboot, noting that the show would ideally feature new younger characters along with the Little House alums that made the NBC drama such a hit.
“I would like to see a reboot of the show with the fabulous new young people, some adorable little girls in L.A., a gorgeous little blond awful child, as me,” she explained. “But have everyone from the old show do like a cameo, just pop in.”
Theater actor Katherine MacGregor put a legendary comedic spin on the role of Nellie’s snobbish, wealthy mother, Harriet Oleson. Now that Arngrim is an adult and would be out of the running to play young Nellie, she has her sights set on the character of the Oleson matriarch.
“I am the correct age now to play Mrs. Oleson and I’m available, so I have no shame,” Arngrim remarked. “I would play her in a second. I would totally do that.”
The former Little House star also knows exactly who her top choice would be to reprise the role of Nellie.
“Can we get Millie Bobby Brown in a blond wig? Because she would knock it out of the park,” she commented, calling the Enola Holmes actor “one of the best young actresses of today.”
Former ‘Little House’ star sees no success in reboot without Michael Landon
Melissa Sue Anderson portrayed Mary Ingalls on Little House and pointed out that the series may not be embraced today as it was in the 70s and 80s.
“People ask me all the time if I think the show would be a hit now, and I think no,” Anderson told PopEntertainment.com in 2010. “The stories would move too slowly. To air a show like ours, it has to be at a slower pace. I don’t know if people want to invest in something that’s slower now when you’re so used to everything being fast.”
She added that the absence of Landon, who died in 1991 from pancreatic cancer, would be too great a void for the show to be a success.
“Without Mike Landon, it wouldn’t happen,” Anderson said. “The whole reason that Little House sold as a pilot and went to a series was because of him. It certainly wasn’t the rest of us. I mean, we were all fine, but he was a huge star with great charisma.”
