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HOLLYWOOD (AP) – It\u2019s a story with covered wagons and one room schoolhouses, but showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine says the \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d remake for Netflix still speaks to today\u2019s American dream.<\/p>\nHOLLYWOOD (AP) – It\u2019s a story with covered wagons and one room schoolhouses, but showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine says the \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d remake for Netflix still speaks to today\u2019s American dream.<\/p>\n
The show, premiering Thursday and set in the late 1800s, follows the Ingalls family led by Charles and Caroline and their two daughters Mary and Laura \u2014 as they settle in the American frontier. It\u2019s adapted from a series of semi-autobiographical books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her own family\u2019s pioneer life. In 1974, Michael Landon co-created the TV series based on the books where he played Pa alongside Melissa Gilbert as Laura. It aired for nine seasons. In the new version, Luke Bracey plays Pa and Alice Halsey is Laura.<\/p>\n
Sonnenshine says the same frontier spirit from back then is baked into how Americans see themselves, even today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis idea of rugged individualism is the cornerstone of American mythos,\u201d Sonnenshine says. \u201cIt\u2019s still manifesting in our lives constantly \u2026 We\u2019re real go-getters.\u201d<\/p>\n
In \u201cLittle House,\u201d we see the Ingalls family seeking land and opportunity as they move west. In real life, Sonnenshine says, those settlers often didn\u2019t understand what they were part of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no CNN or up-to-date newspapers, telling you\u201d what was really happening, she says. \u201cThey did not understand the politics of land ownership or these treaties that have been made or these reservations,\u201d she said. In the show, we see Charles begin to grasp the politics at play as the family encounters the Osage Nation and their new neighbors \u2014 and keeps some of that to himself. Sonnenshine says \u201cit\u2019s not out of malice, exactly\u201d but because \u201cknowledge did not flow as freely as it does now.\u201d
\nWriters made keeping key events from originals a priority<\/p>\n
As the Ingalls family builds their new life, we\u2019re introduced to various neighbors who help them do it. That includes an Osage family adjusting to their own new way of life as settlers claim parts of their land. Laura strikes up a friendship with an Osage girl, and there\u2019s a mutual respect among Charles and the Osage family patriarch.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of what this show is about is getting to know people that are not like you, all kinds of different people, because once you get to know people, that\u2019s where all the change happens,\u201d said Sonnenshine.<\/p>\n
Mr. Edwards, a fan favorite from the books and series, helps Pa build the family\u2019s cabin. He\u2019s a rugged Civil War veteran with a heart of gold \u2014 grieving the loss of his own family, finding a new one in the Ingalls.<\/p>\n
Staying true to characters like Edwards and including key events from the source material was a priority for Sonnenshine. She and her writers made a list of \u201ciconic moments\u201d with a checklist to follow. \u201cWe just crossed them off as we went along. \u2018OK, we\u2019ve found a way to incorporate this\u2019 or \u2018Ma gets a chair,\u2019 which is very important, or \u2018great Pa builds a door.\u2019\u201d Building a door, says Sonnenshine, is \u201ca whole chapter in a book.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trip Friendly, whose father Ed co-created the series with Landon and was an executive producer, controls the overall rights to the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories. He\u2019s an executive producer on the remake, and Sonnenshine says Trip is \u201cvery passionate about telling the story of the books.\u201d
\nPa is good but not perfect<\/p>\n
Landon\u2019s portrayal of Pa made him arguably one of the most popular TV dads in the history of the medium. He was a devoted family man with strong morals and compassion for others.<\/p>\n
Bracey had never watched the original which he says was beneficial to creating his own interpretation of the character.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel that burden,\u201d said Bracey. \u201cThe intimidating factor has come after making it. When I\u2019ve told people what I\u2019ve done, and I\u2019ve been told how important it is to them. That\u2019s where it\u2019s got intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bracey said it\u2019s refreshing to play a genuinely good person, who makes mistakes, but is good.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s very few really good people in television and movies. I feel lots of times they have to have a dark secret or a checkered past or whatever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Crosby Fitzgerald, who plays Ma, says that goodness is present off-screen too. \u201cWorking with Luke is incredible. He actually is like Pa in person. Just really lifted me up all the time. It\u2019s impossible to work on a set like this, especially with this legacy, and not be uplifted by the vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sonnenshine says Season 1 is also about Laura learning that neither of her parents are perfect, particularly Pa. She comes to understand that \u201che does make mistakes and that\u2019s OK.\u2019 And even Charles talks about that. I think that\u2019s a more honest portrayal of fatherhood.\u201d
\nSecond season will add Laura\u2019s rival<\/p>\n
Sonnenshine most recently wrote the adaptation for the hit film \u201cThe Housemaid\u201d starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried and is writing its sequel. She was also a writer on \u201cThe Boys,\u201d which was known for its explicit language and sex and graphic violence. It\u2019s not an exaggeration to say that writing for \u201cLittle House,\u201d even on a streaming platform, is different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve ever written without using any curse words,\u201d said Sonnenshine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve usually done, like much darker material. So I always say, well, I\u2019m in my family era right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Filming on the show\u2019s second season is underway. Netflix recently confirmed the addition of another popular character from the originals. Willa Dunn has been cast as Laura\u2019s rival Nellie Oleson, whose father owns the general store.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s here and she\u2019s acting up a storm,\u201d said Sonnenshine. \u201cIt\u2019s really fun. People love that character. I think we\u2019re doing a slightly different take on the character, which is also really fun. The book is our sort of touchstone and then building upon that for her and her family has been \u2014 it brings a new dynamic to the Ingalls family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – It\u2019s a story with covered wagons and one room schoolhouses, but showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine says the \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d remake for Netflix still speaks to today\u2019s American dream. The show, premiering Thursday and set in the late 1800s, follows the Ingalls family led by Charles and Caroline and their two … Continue reading New \u2018Little House\u2019 series explores complicated history but keeps heart, community at the center<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":1522909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-entertainment-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-07-11 13:07:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1522908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1522910,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522908\/revisions\/1522910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1522909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1522908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1522908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1522908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}