By Carolyn Moore 
Dear Netflix,
Honestly, when I learned you’d announced a reboot of Little House on the Prairie, I gasped . . . in horror.
You see, I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s. Some people call me a Geriatric Millennial; others drop me into the Oregon Trail Generation; still others aren’t sure if I’m GenZ or something else entirely.
Truth is, it doesn’t matter—because what I really am is a superfan of that glorious, endearing, reminds-me-of-simpler-times-long-before-the-internet show. Michael Landon as Pa. Karen Grassle as Ma. Sweet Melissa Gilbert with her braids as Laura. Melissa Sue Anderson, the perfect Mary. Sidney and Rachel Greenbush embodying the impish Carrie. Every episode is a masterpiece, full of the same warmth the book series it’s based on radiates.
You must understand, I cherish those Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I got a boxed set for Christmas as a child, and it’s one of the things I’d save in a house fire, even today—the magic inside her pages is that sacred, the stories and characters that wonderful.
So you’ll have to forgive my initial reaction to a 2025 reboot of the characters and stories I know and love so well. My kids have spent hours watching it with me too, and it takes me right back. Nostalgia does funny things to a midlifer’s heart.
But alas, dear Netflix, I am an adult, so I’ve learned I must do more than dig in my heels (sounds like the plotline of an episode, eh?), so I’m giving you a chance.
The more I learn about the reboot, the more hopeful I am you’ll do its predecessor justice.
The showrunner and executive producer is Rebecca Sonnenshine, who describes herself as a lifelong fan of the beloved stories. “I fell deeply in love with these books when I was five years old. They inspired me to become a writer and a filmmaker, and I am honored and thrilled to be adapting these stories for a new global audience with Netflix.”
That’s a good start.
In addition to having a fan at the helm of the creative process, the new iteration will have Trip Friendly—son of the original Little House on the Prairie series producer, Ed Friendly—onboard as an executive producer.
“It has been a long-held dream of mine to carry on my father’s legacy and adapt Wilder’s classic American stories for a 21st-century audience in a way that brings together fans of both the books and the original television series,” Friendly, who is CEO of Friendly Family Productions, said.
You’re calling the show “part family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West,” one that “will offer a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.”
Netflix, I wish you the best of luck. Keep it simple. Remember the magic. Find the fun.
And please oh please oh please, be gentle with my childhood.
Sincerely,
An ’80s kid
by Jenny Rapson 
by Sherry White 
