How ‘Anne of Green Gables’ ended up in ‘Little House’ along with Nellie Oleson

This is not a fever dream.

Netflix’s “Little House on the Prairie” (now streaming) has some wild cameo appearances that include actress Alison Arngrim, forever known as Nellie Oleson from the original NBC series, along with Megan Follows, star of the 1985 PBS series “Anne of Green Gables.”

In “Little House,” Follows, 58, is cast as the grandmother to Laura Ingalls (Alice Halsey), who appears while Laura is having a fever dream from an illness running through the Ingalls family.

While “Anne of Green Gables” is clearly a different project from the original NBC series, “Little House on the Prairie” (1974-83), both projects, based on popular book series, are in the same pastoral universe.

“If you’ve read ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ chances are you read ‘Anne of Green Gables,'” “Little House” executive producer Rebecca Sonnenshine tells USA TODAY. “And I loved Megan Follows from that miniseries. She brought so much warmth to that role. When someone mentioned Megan for that part, I was like, ‘Oh my God, yes!'”

The Canadian actress Follows was “kind enough to come out to the (Winnipeg) set to shoot one scene,” Sonnenshine says. “She was great, and it’s awesome for people to know that we’re fans of the same material.”

Nellie no more: Arngrim plays forest drifter Ida in ‘Little House’

There is no Nellie character in Season 1 of “Little House.” The character appears later in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic books and will appear in Season 2 of the Netflix series (played by Willa Dunn).

Sonnenshine came up with the idea of casting Arngrim, 64, who starred as villainous, pigtailed Nellie in the OG NBC series.

“I knew viewers would be disappointed that there was no Nellie this season,” Sonnenshine says. “I thought it would be fun to have Alison Arngrim play one of these crazy ladies on the prairie. I thought people would love this so much. Alison is so witty and doesn’t take herself too seriously.”

Arngrim, who wrote the brilliantly titled book, “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch,” about her time as a national TV villain, got the “Little House” call asking, “What are you doing in a week and a half? Could you come to Winnipeg? There’s this character, we want it to be you.”

“It was very fast. Maybe two weeks’ notice,” Arngrim told Netflix’s Tudum. “Ida is basically a crazy lady in the woods, sort of a forest drifter with friends. They’re hanging out in the woods, having their little dinner, a little campfire in the forest, and the two poor unsuspecting Ingalls girls wander in, and we’re like, ‘Hi, come hang out with us.’ I thought, ‘Oh, that’s creepy as all get‑out. That sounds right up my alley. I’ll be right over!'”

Arngrim loved the period outfits, but was not as thrilled about having to go full prairie drifter.

“The makeup woman came in and said, ‘You realize you’re living in the woods here,'” Arngrim said. “They proceeded to make me look like I took much less care of myself than I actually do. They painted my teeth and made them look horrible. They painted my nails to look disgusting, filthy, and diseased. All my beautiful nails, my beautiful teeth, my beautiful skin – out the window.”

Still Arngrim loved it all.

“I had SOOOOO much fun doing this! So happy people are enjoying my cameo on the new Little House!” Arngrim wrote on Instagram next to a photo of Ida.

Martin Donovan plays Mr. Ingalls

Sonnenshine previously worked with Martin Donovan in the Netflix supernatural horror series “Archive 81,” in which the Canadian actor played enigmatic billionaire Virgil Davenport. In “Little House,” Donovan plays Mr. Ingalls, the father of Pa (Luke Bracey).

“I told Martin, ‘We’ve got this little show, would you come out and do me a favor?'” says Sonnenshine. “And he did it.”