It's hard to believe that it's been 50 years since Little House on the Prairie first premiered on NBC. Overcoming the "rural purge" that plagued television at the time, Little House defied all odds by airing for a decade on the network at a time when audiences were craving urbanized narratives and anything that wasn't a Western. Helmed by Michael Landon, Little House was based on the even more beloved series of novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder, who chronicled her own upbringing on the Midwestern prairies she called home. But a few years back, Paramount announced their intentions to reboot Little House on the Prairie with a feature film production that would re-tell the familiar tale for new 21st-century audiences. Whatever happened to that project? Well, it sort of fizzled out.
There Have Been Few Updates on a 'Little House on the Prairie' Reboot Film
Back in 2012, Sony had initially attempted to reboot the Little House brand themselves, with Scott Rudin set to produce a new feature film that was nearly directed by Halloween legend David Gordon Green. The whole thing would've cost upward of $40 million, as reported by the Hollywood Reporter. But after a shakeup at the studio, Paramount swooped in and, in 2016, announced their own intentions to revive the material, this time with future The Iron Claw director Sean Durkin set to helm the picture from a script penned by Abi Morgan. Despite an exciting announcement, it was crickets after that, and for years nobody knew anything about what had become of Paramount's Little House on the Prairie.
Then, in 2020, the studio had some exciting news. Instead of making a feature film based on Wilder's original novels, they were going to reboot the original television series. After the announcement, Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson in the original series, jokingly campaigned to play Mrs. Oleson in the reboot. "I'm totally there. I have no shame," she told Entertainment Weekly. Had this project worked out, it would have been the third time that a live-action Little House series would be made, as the first two books in Wilder's series were brought to life again in 2005 by ABC in a six-part miniseries. But alas, Paramount's television hopes and dreams soon faded into the ether as well.
50 Years Later, 'Little House on the Prairie' Cannot Be Replicated
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With the 50th anniversary of the original television series upon us, it's probably for the best that Little House on the Prairie is left exactly the way it is. While the show wasn't always the most faithful adaptation of the original books (though it did occasionally adapt real-life elements from Wilder's life, such as the sudden death of her baby brother), it managed to warm hearts everywhere, including in countries all across the globe. The thing about Little House is, that no matter how dated it might appear on the surface, its stories are timeless. The lessons one can learn and gleam from the original NBC series - which later concluded with three made-for-TV specials -- still ring true today, and the show that Michael Landon and company put together could never be replicated. In fact, Arngrim aside, many of the other former cast members hold to that very notion.
"There have been shows, there has been a musical, and I think we had a unique experience and it can't be repeated," explained Karen Gassel (who played Caroline Ingalls in the OG series) to People Magazine earlier this year, and she's right. Michael Landon was such a creative force behind Little House, that it would be hard to find anyone like him to run the show both on and off the camera. Not only that, but there are just some shows that we ought not to touch. No one wants to remake I Love Lucy or Gunsmoke, and, likewise, Little House on the Prairie is a classic that deserves to be honored for its contributions to television, not exploited for more. "I don't think you get to repeat this," Gassel concluded, speaking of a possible reboot. "This is it. And fortunately, it was television so they can just keep running it." Indeed, they can. Even now, Little House is finding new fans, who are discovering the series for the very first time on either television or streaming. That's something special, and Hollywood ought to take note.
Little House on the Prairie can be streamed on Peacock in the U.S.
Little House on the Prairie
TV-PG
Drama
Family
Romance
The life and adventures of the Ingalls family in the nineteenth century American Midwest.
Release Date March 30, 1974
Creator Blanche Hanalis
Cast Melissa Gilbert , Michael Landon , Karen Grassle , Rachel Lindsay Greenbush , Sidney Greenbush , Melissa Sue Anderson
Seasons 9
Watch on Peacock