Whether you’re over-the-moon about the update or still a bit unsure, Netflix’s Little House on the Prairiewill 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.
Disney’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Miniseries Was a Bit More Faithful to the Book
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 Congenialityco-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.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
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.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
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 are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
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.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
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.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
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.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
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.
‘Little House on the Prairie’ Is a Stunning Window In Time For Those Pining for Frontier Living
Danielle Chuchran as Mary Ingalls, Erin Cottrell as Caroline Ingalls, Cameron Bancroft as Charles Ingalls , and Kyle Chavarria as Laura Ingalls on ‘Little House on the Prairie’ (2005)Image via ABC
It’s no secret that the ’05 Little House on the Prairie is often (and understandably) overshadowed by the beloved NBC television series, but theminiseries 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.
