What Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie does that the original show did not

After more than four decades, the classic, much-beloved show Little House on the Prairie is returning to TV.

While the bones of the show are the same — a family leaving home and migrating for more opportunity, facing the harsh landscape and what that brings with it — this Netflix adaptation, premiering on July 9, is more aligned with the book version.

Showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Housemaid, The Boys) says the series is aiming to align more closely with American pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder’s semi-autobiographical novels, which follow the Ingalls family’s early years on the Osage Nation Reservation from 1869 to 1871.

She told CBC News that Wilder’s writing has been part of her life for years, and she read her novels “a million times as a kid.”

Canada plays a starring role, too. While the story takes place in southeastern Kansas, the reboot was filmed entirely in Manitoba.

WATCH | The reboot trailer:

Show filmed in Manitoba

Sonnenshine credits the province’s sweeping landscapes and tallgrass scenery for delivering the wide-open, “untouched” prairie look they were after.

Because cold, snowy and wet winter weather persists into spring in the province, Sonnenshine said that shooting couldn’t begin until June. Despite the late start, the cast and crew still had to grapple with major floods, tornadoes, lightning and extreme winds, along with ticks and bugs.

“We’re going through it, just like the Ingalls,” Sonnenshine said. “We get a little taste of what it was like on the prairie, although, of course, we have lots of modern conveniences.”

The original Little House on the Prairie TV show (1974-1983) was a major hit with an enduring legacy. Although it was set in Minnesota — the reboot is too — it was filmed elsewhere. Simi Valley, Calif., stood in for Walnut Grove, the town at the heart of the Michael Landon series.

WATCH | The original TV series trailer:

Famously, the Little House on the Prairie novels are not without controversy.

The books have long faced criticism for stereotypical and racialized portrayals. In 2018, the Association for Library Service to Children — an American Library Association division — removed Wilder’s name from a major children’s book award after concerns that her writing included “anti-Native and anti-Black sentiments” and “expressions of stereotypical attitudes.”

Why the Osage perspective matters

Sonnenshine says the new TV series doesn’t treat the Osage as a passing detail, which the original series did. (Except for the 1974 series pilot, the Osage are not featured in any episode of Little House. Indigenous characters and storylines appear in scattered episodes — several of them controversial — but they are not a central focus of the series.)

In this modern version, the Osage are a principal element. In the past, they have often been “looked at from afar” in screen adaptations, she said.

“We never get to know them.”

She says the reboot brings the Osage point of view into the show; not just who’s on screen, but how the stories are told and how the characters see the world.

At the centre of the new Little House on the Prairie is the Ingalls family — but the people around them are just as important, including their Osage neighbours, the Mitchells.

Meegwun Fairbrother, an Ojibwe actor from Grassy Narrows First Nation, plays William Mitchell, a mixed-blood Osage farmer. In an interview with Tudum, Netflix’s official companion site, Fairbrother said Mitchell “cares deeply about safety and protection of the land and his people, like a steward.”

Fairbrother also told Tudum that he has typically not booked historical roles.

“There aren’t very many mixed-blood First Nation roles written in the genre,” he said. “So when I saw that on the initial audition, I was floored.”

Alberta-raised Cree actor Alyssa Wapanatâhk, a member of the Bigstone Cree First Nation, plays his wife, White Sun, described by Netflix as opinionated and beautiful with “a sharp sense of humour.”

When Wapanatâhk first got the character breakdown of White Sun, she was immediately drawn to the authentic descriptions of the Osage characters and the introduction of the Mitchell family.

“I knew the Osage family weren’t included in the original series,” she told Tudum. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to make some type of movement and change.'”

Ojibwe actor Wren Zhawenim Gotts plays the Mitchell’s daughter, Good Eagle, who is described as wildly imaginative and known in her family as a storyteller.

To make the portrayals as accurate as possible, the creative team worked with Osage consultants, including Robert Warrior, a literature professor at the University of Kansas, who served as a story consultant and helped bring historical context into the work.

Osage cultural consultant Julie O’Keefe, who also served as a consultant for the film Killers of the Flower Moon, was on set and guided production design and work on costumes, hair, makeup and set decoration — using Osage artists whenever possible.

Because the characters speak Osage, the show also brought in Osage actor and language consultant Talee Redcorn, to translate dialogue, and coach actors to keep the language accurate.

Sonnenshine says this approach aligns with a broader focus on the communities at the heart of the story — not just the Ingalls, but the people who share their world.

Meet the new Ingalls

Australian actor Luke Bracey steps into the role of patriarch Charles Ingalls, better known as Pa. Netflix’s cast guide describes him as “ruggedly handsome and charming,” a man of many talents: farmer, trapper, carpenter, musician and “the original girl dad.”

Bracey came into the role without deep familiarity with the story, which he says helped him see the material with “fresh eyes.”

“Learning about it and being part of it, it’s such a joy to be part of this family and tell these stories,” Bracey told CBC News.

Crosby Fitzgerald plays the Ingalls matriarch Caroline Ingalls, known as Ma. Netflix describes her as a “quiet, patient and practical mother — with a core of steel.”

Unlike Bracey, Fitzgerald grew up with both the book series and the original TV show. After she got a callback for the role of Caroline, her mother bought three box sets of the books.

“It really was canon in my home,” she told CBC News.

Fitzgerald also recalled how, during the casting process, her family kept checking in constantly to see if she got the part.

“Everyone was very excited about this in an extreme way.”

Alice Halsey, 11, plays Laura Ingalls, the family’s spirited daughter. Wilder’s Laura has always been the driving force of the story: honest, headstrong and hard to mistake for anyone else.

When asked about stepping into Laura’s shoes, Halsey said the pressure was real.

“I felt a lot of responsibility becoming Laura. There are so many people who she is important to, so many people across the world. She’s an icon, and I feel like I really needed to honour her legacy and her story.”

And, as Bracey said, “she absolutely does.”

Toronto-born actor Skywalker Hughes, 14, rounds out the family as Mary Ingalls, Laura’s older sister. Mary is described as Laura’s polar opposite: quiet, studious, a rule follower — the counterweight to Laura’s fire.

Hughes says she’s a lifelong fan. She’s read and reread the books.

“I adore this series so much, and it’s just insanely exciting the fact that I get to be here.”

Does Little House resonate today?

While the show depicts the challenges of frontier life, Sonnenshine hopes viewers see the reboot as more than just a period drama.

The heart of it, she says, is a “love story” and “a coming-of-age story about a family” — a story meant to leave people remembering the value of connection.

“I think we could all use a reminder of how important love and family and community is.”

She also hopes that it encourages people to seek out Wilder’s books.

“They’re really beautiful, they’re very special, they’re an iconic American piece of literature told from a female perspective, and that’s rare … for the time. My greatest wish is that people discover her books.”

The first season streams July 9 on Netflix, and the streamer has already renewed the series for a second season, which is currently shooting in Manitoba.