Netflix’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Finds Its Laura

Netflix’s take on Little House on the Prairie has cast its first role — and it’s a vital one.

Alice Halsey will play Laura in the streamer’s adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved novels. The young actress has appeared in Apple TV+’s Lessons in Chemistry, where she played the daughter of Brie Larson’s character, and in Days of Our Lives on Peacock, along with a guest spot on NBC’s Night Court and voiceover work on the Disney Junior series Kindergarten: The Musical.

The new Little House comes from CBS Studios, Anonymous Content Studio and showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine (The Boys, The Vampire Diaries). Netflix gave it a series order in January, culminating several years of development by Anonymous Content and what was then Paramount TV Studios (the latter shut down last year, with CBS Studios absorbing its series and development).

The Little House novels, first published in the 1930s, have been a school library staple for decades and previously served as the source material for an NBC series that ran from 1974-83. The Netflix show is described as “part hopeful family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West” that will “offer a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.”

As for Laura, the character is described as “observant, tender, strong-willed, hot-tempered. She resists the bounds of 19th-century ladylike behavior — she likes to run barefoot and feel the sun on her face. She is curious and optimistic and fearless, like her father; resourceful and hardworking and honest, like her mother. She is quick to call out anyone who is cruel or unjust. She loves fiercely and unapologetically and is utterly devoted to her dog, Jack. She rubs some adults the wrong way — too many hard questions, too much personality, too much energy — but to the people who matter, she’s a bright light. She absorbs every detail she sees around her, collecting them for stories she will someday share with the world.”

Melissa Gilbert played Laura in the 1974-83 series and several follow-up TV movies, starring alongside Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Melissa Sue Anderson and Sidney and Rachel Greenbush as the Ingalls family. The 10-year-old Halsey is the same age Gilbert was when Little House on the Prairie premiered on NBC.

Sonnenshine is executive producing Little House on the Prairie with Joy Gorman Wettels for Joy Coalition, Trip Friendly for Friendly Family Productions, Dana Fox and Susanna Fogel. Trip Friendly is the son of Ed Friendly, who had rights to Wilder’s books and was an executive producer of the original series. Sarah Adina Smith (Lessons in Chemistry, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) will direct the first episode.