Melissa Gilbert is in awe of the longevity of Little House on the Prairie, and she credits the show’s tackling of issues which are still relevant today.
The show followed Charles Ingall’s (Michael Landon) family’s life on a farm in Walnut Grove in Minnesota in the 1870s. Melissa noted the show depicted the relevant issues of 1970s despite being set a century earlier.
“It’s wild to be a part of something that has that kind of longevity,” Gilbert said of the show, which is getting a Netflix remake.
“It’s so beloved,” the actress, who played Laura Ingalls on the show, continued continued. “People love that show. They love the stories that we told. They love the relevance of the stories that we told. Now people are looking back and going, ‘Oh, Little House. They told some pretty palpable stuff.’
She highlighted that the show “was not exploitive. Michael Landon was consciously telling the stories of the 1970s through the lens of the 1870s. We were talking about civil rights and veterans coming home from the Civil War on our show, where [in our time] the veterans were coming home from the Vietnam War.”
She continued, “These were all topical and important stories, and unfortunately, so many are still things we need to discuss today. So that’s why I think Little House continues on.”
“We took on rape, arson, crib death, all kinds of horrible, horrible things on that show,” she concluded.
The upcoming Netflix reboot of Little House on the Prairie will star Alice Halsey as young heroine Laura Ingalls, with Skywalker Hughes as her older sister, Mary Ingalls. Luke Bracey will play Charles Ingalls.
