‘Little House on the Prairie’: Netflix Reboot Sets Cast!!!

Netflix‘s reboot of Little House on the Prairie has hitched up its wagon. The new vision of Laura Ingalls Wilder‘s classic series of novels, and its long-running and well-remembered TV adaptation, has found its main character. Lessons in Chemistry‘s Alice Halsey will play Laura Ingalls on the new TV series. Halsey steps into the shoes of Melissa Gilbert, who played the role on the original TV series. Joining her will be Luke Bracey (Point Break) and Crosby Fitzgerald (Palm Royale) as her parents, and Skywalker Hughes (Joe Pickett) as her sister Mary.

Halsey starred as the daughter of Brie Larson‘s chemist-turned-cooking-host on Apple TV+‘s Lessons in Chemistry, and has also appeared on Days of Our Lives and Night Court. She also lends her voice to the Disney Jr. animated series Kindergarten: The Musical. She takes on the role of Laura Ingalls, the fictionalized version of the books’ author, who serves as the viewpoint character for the series. Gilbert, who starred in the original series as a child, gave Netflix‘s rendition her blessing in an appearance on The View, stating, “I support the project. It’s just like, you know, different versions of Little Women, it’s another…people’s interpretation of a classic story.”

What Is ‘Little House on the Prairie’ About?

In 1869, Laura Ingalls and her family settled in various locations throughout the then-open American west, homesteading and enduring a variety of hardships. She wrote about those experiences decades later in a series of popular children’s novels. They were most famously adapted in an NBC TV series that ran for 200 episodes over nine seasons between 1974 and 1983. In addition to Gilbert, it starred Michael Landon (Bonanza) as patriarch Charles, Karen Grassle (Wyatt Earp) as mother Caroline, Melissa Sue Anderson (Happy Birthday to Me) as elder sister Mary, and twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush as younger daughter Carrie. Landon also produced the series, which often featured strong Christian themes to reflect his own faith. Its family-friendly nature made it a favorite with audiences, who followed it as the settlement of Walnut Grove developed into a bustling frontier town, and as Laura aged into womanhood. The series concluded with three TV specials: in the final special, the entire town, Little House and all, is dynamited to prevent it from falling into the hands of a greedy land developer. It has remained popular in syndication and on streaming.

Netflix‘s new Little House on the Prairie will be showrun and executive produced by Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Vampire Diaries, The Boys). Joy Gorman Wettels for Joy Coalition, Trip Friendly for Friendly Family Productions, Dana Fox, and Susanna Fogel will also executive produce. The series’ pilot episode will be directed by Sarah Adina Smith (Lessons in Chemistry).