Little House on the Prairie, which originated in the 1930s as a bestselling kids book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, is returning to the small screen in a new adaptation that’s just been greenlit by Netflix. Produced by CBS Studios and Anonymous Content Studios, the project will be spearheaded by showrunner and EP Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Vampire Diaries).
This reboot is getting underway more than 50 years after the original Little House on the Prairie series premiered on NBC in 1974. It ran for nine seasons, telling the story of the Ingalls family living on a small farm in Minnesota as the American west was settled in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Episodes touched on the daily adolescent struggles of daughter Laura, a rivalry between the Ingalls and the affluent Oleson family (owners of the local mercantile), and the ongoing challenges of living a frontier lifestyle.
Wilder’s children’s books have collectively sold more than 73 million copies in 100-plus countries. But the Little House on the Prairie TV series cultivated an all-ages fanbase by tapping into so many content genres (western, historical, romance, family drama, etc.).
Similarly, the reboot will be “part family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West,” offering a “kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier,” according to Netflix. It’s worth noting that this fresh take may be poised to benefit from the continued popularity of the original NBC series, which generated 13.25 billion minutes of watchtime on Peacock last year, as per Nielsen’s Streaming Unwrapped report.
Featured image: Little House on the Prairie book artwork (1953) illustrated by Garth Williams.