Little House on the Prairie (2026)

Even those who didn't watch the original series will find much to be charmed by in Netflix's delightful reboot of the family-friendly drama.

Sonnenshine, who developed the reboot, doesn’t lay her lesson on too thick, wisely rooting it in a story as much about a family finding their home as they are finding themselves.

In keeping with more modern TV sensibilities (and real life), characters are more complex — grayer and more nuanced, less black and white.

It’s an absolutely charming family drama that will either hook you with its tender heart or infuriate you for not being “your” Little House.

With great performances, beautiful storytelling, and an unexpected sense of depth, Little House on the Prairie is a great addition to the Netflix catalog.

I don’t gravitate toward “wholesome” or “earnest” as attributes in most of my favorite shows, but I bought into Little House on the Prairie and I’m relieved that Netflix has already renewed it for a second season.

Though the show is slightly slow at the start, the childlike whimsy and robust themes are as resounding today as they were 150 years ago.

Once in a while, you might imagine a bit of Ms. Gilbert in the younger actress and a bit of the old show in this one, which is quite frank about certain aspects of the Wilder story, but also earnestly sentimental in a way that will please the Wilder loyalists.

The result is an undeniably heartfelt family drama that, for all its coming-of-age anxieties and sweeping vistas, also dares to ask some difficult questions about the true price of progress.

Little House on the Prairie is a charming and beautifully crafted reboot series that will welcome a new generation to the Prairie universe through the good chemistry of the cast.

What's best about this series is the prevailing sense that Sonnenshine has actually read the books and esteems them, especially the characters who so memorably fill their pages.

The basic spirit of the OG Little House on the Prairie still runs through this adaptation. Like Wilder's creation and the NBC series, this story preaches the values of family, hard work, hope, empathy, and generosity, without being overly didactic.

Netflix’s “Little House on the Prairie” is, mostly, the mildly reformulated bowl of sunshine it’s advertised as, but it is also conscious that it is a story of creation.

Even though the production feels like a Hallmark movie with the lessons neatly delivered and the storylines tidily resolved, the series does make good work of centering women and minorities in a way that the original didn’t. Even if its depictions simplify and whitewash real prairie life, the covered wagon journey into the past is at least an appealingly wholesome ride.

If some of the acting is wooden and the characters crafted from cardboard, many will find that a small price to pay for the creature comforts of an American classic revived for a new generation.

It might be sickly sweet, or it might be a warm hug on a bad day. The series is easy watching, if overlong. The cast is charming and beautiful, the costumes are luxe (probably too luxe for the time) and the setting is a vision to behold.

For such a risky venture, Little House On The Prairie plays it a little too safe. Let’s hope the show takes things further in Netflix’s already-confirmed second season.

Even when the postcard visuals push an idealistic view of America the beautiful, the spirit of the piece pushes back that America still has a long way to go. Any arguments?

A 2005 miniseries, shown as part of “The Wonderful World of Disney,” was generally faithful to the letter and spirit of the text. The record shows that I liked it. The new “Little House,” created by Rebecca Sonnenshine and streaming on Netflix, is fairly faithful to its spirit, and less so to its letter.

A pleasant enough eight-episode drama that more than looks the part, without ever really challenging its audience or complicating its own depiction of life on the American frontier all that much.

Netflix may want us to feel Laura’s struggles but she’s slightly lost in this account, which seems more keen to see her life through the eyes of a liberal arts college professor in 2026. This Prairie pulls its punches.

It is exactly the revamp you would expect. The new LHOTP is a precision-tooled and well-oiled machine. All children’s and most adult problems are solvable within a one-to-three episode arc.

It will appeal to many with its handsome cast and fun scenes of square dancing, but it also saps the story of the odd qualities that make it so memorable.

Its intentions are noble, but its execution is messy, with situations and dynamics resolved via the most even-handed and comforting solutions available—a process akin to smoothing out a tablecloth’s creases.

Halsey and Fitzgerald give their characters real energy and depth. But for all the many fiddle-led family sing-alongs that comprise perhaps its greatest concession to the trad crowd, the series feels a bit flat.

The reboot’s creator also deserves credit for assembling a uniformly capable cast, including young actors Halsey and Hughes, who do justice to roles made iconic by Melissa Gilbert and Melissa Sue Anderson, respectively, on the NBC show. Sonnenshine fails, however, to make this “Little House” any fun.

There are plenty of elements rearranged and expanded on, with no greater depth of feeling to be found. It’s mostly an act of compression, rushing through the basics of storytelling while setting up for more to come on the horizon.