Published Jun 20, 2026, 7:36 PM EDT
Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain,** **was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil’s Left Hand, received the Spur Award for “Best Western Short Fiction” from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.
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Whether you’re over-the-moon about the update or still a bit unsure, Netflix’s *Little House on the Prairie *will be premiering in just a few short weeks — in fact, the new trailer just dropped not too long ago. That’s likely not enough time to binge through the entire nine-season run of the original series (unless you don’t need to sleep), but if you want to revisit the Midwestern world that Laura Ingalls Wilder crafted to embody her childhood experience, consider Disney’s six-part Little House on the Prairie miniseries instead. That’s right, the House of Mouse made its own Little House reboot over two decades ago, and it is easily the more faithful of the two major adaptations.
Adapting both elements of Little House in the Big Woods and *Little House on the Prairie *in its entirety, this six-part drama was helmed by To End All Wars director David L. Cunningham from a teleplay by ***Miss Congeniality ***co-writer Katie Ford. The miniseries aired on ABC as a part of The Wonderful World of Disney anthology program over the course of six weeks in the spring of 2005, surprising viewers with its faithfulness to Wilder’s original material in the wake of the previous Michael Landon-led adaptation (which, frankly, changed quite a few things over the years). The project starred **Cameron Bancroft **and Erin Cottrell as Charles “Pa” and Caroline “Ma” Ingalls, with **Kyle Chavarria **and Danielle C. Ryan cast as a young Laura and Mary, respectively, as the Ingalls family travels from their initial home in the “big woods” in Wisconsin to the open Kansas prairie. The journey is harrowing and troublesome, but the family makes it to their homestead not far outside Independence, where they build a life for themselves, befriend the quirky Mr. Edwards (Gregory Sporleder), and encounter everything from wolves and bears to cowboys and Indians.
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
When compared to the original nine-season drama, the 2005 miniseries — stylized on-screen as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie — spends far more time meditating on the Ingalls’ journey westward and highlighting the unique challenges of frontier living than it does one-and-done morality tales. Their home nearly burns down, Charles and Laura are chased by wolves through the woods, and the whole family nearly drowns while crossing a raging river. The dangers are all around them, and though Little House on the Prairie never sugarcoats the trouble, it maintains a hopeful optimism by focusing on the blessings at hand rather than all the detriments and disasters. The way the miniseries makes such a rainy, non-white Christmas magical for the two Ingalls girls (in the face of, say, the original series classic “Christmas at Plum Creek”) is a heartwarming stroke of genius that pulls directly from the novels — and though it repeats some of the same beats from the original series’ television pilot film, it does so in a way that never feels like a retread or imitation.
The series has also set a release date for this summer.
Although the ABC series deviates on occasion from Wilder’s books, it never strays as eagerly from the text as other adaptations have. In fact, when it does, it’s only to emphasize a narrative point already made by Wilder in her text. Case in point, the miniseries predates the upcoming Netflix reboot in its emphasis on the Ingalls’ interactions with their Native American characters. Laura, in particular, is fascinated by the Native Americans, who come and go on their land as they please. Sometimes they appear as a potential threat, other times as a misunderstood culture curious about the homesteaders and their fancy ways. The young girl constantly finds herself wandering into the woods where their children play, and even Mary stands up for them against the curmudgeon that is Mrs. Scott (Gina Stockdale). The nuance used in exploring these almost mythic figures falls in line with their complicated portrayal in Wilder’s autobiographical novels.
It’s no secret that the ‘05 Little House on the Prairie is often (and understandably) overshadowed by the beloved NBC television series, but the **miniseries **is an enjoyable return to form that may be fun to revisit before the next adaptation rolls around. It’s chock-full of charismatic leads, frontier excitement, and family drama that fits the Disney brand, albeit in a way that doesn’t feel overly like the House of Mouse was behind the project. Although he’s admittedly not Landon, Bancroft is a capable Charles Ingalls who fits the role mightily (and even boasts the facial hair that Landon famously lacked). His relationship with his two girls is perfectly reflective of what we read about in the novels, and an inspiring model to live up to for those like this author with young daughters at home.
Likewise, Chavarria’s inquisitive mind as Laura is at work in every scene, and both Cottrell and Ryan round out the rest of the family well. Though there will no doubt be similarities between this production and Netflix’s upcoming reboot (which has already been renewed for a second season), they are both certainly products of different times, trying to reflect on the Old West era from a 21st-century vantage point. Here’s hoping that, like the 2005 miniseries, the 2026 remake can live up to Wilder’s original tales.
Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie premieres on July 9 on the streaming platform.
Little House on the Prairie
2005 - 2005-00-00
David L. Cunningham