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Netflix announced that a 10-year-old actress, who previously appeared on Lessons in Chemistry and Days of Our Lives, will be starring in the upcoming Little House on the Prairie reboot as Laura Ingalls
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News that the streaming platform was working on a new iteration of the beloved show, which ran from 1974 until 1983, first broke in January
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Melissa Gilbert played Laura throughout all nine seasons of the original series, beginning at the same age as Halsey
The new Little House on the Prairie has found its leading lady!
On Friday, May 2, Netflix announced that Alice Halsey will be taking on the role of Laura Ingalls in its upcoming revival of the iconic series. The 10-year-old will be playing the beloved character, who is named after the author of the semi-autobiographical novels by the same title, published in the 1930s.
Related: Netflix Orders Little House on the Prairie Reboot More Than 40 Years After Original Series
Michael Becker / Apple TV+ /Courtesy Everett Collection
Alice Halsey on ‘Lessons in Chemistry’.
“Everyone sees themselves in Laura,” the official character description reads. “That’s why these books endure. Laura is a disruptor. Honest to a fault. Questions authority. She’s our window into this adventure. An American icon in waiting. Forget your modern ideas of childhood — the stakes are high for children living in the 19th century. They have responsibilities — and freedoms — that seem extraordinary in this era of helicopter parenting.”
“Mixed in with small pleasures and petty disputes with her older sister are true feats of survival and bravery,” it continues. “She is 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.”
NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
(back row l-r) Melisssa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls Kendall, Michael Landon as Charles Philip Ingalls, Melissa Gilbert as Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder, Linwood Boomer as Adam Kendall (front row l-r) Matthew Laborteaux as Albert Quinn Ingalls, Karen Grassle as Caroline Quiner Holbrook Ingalls, Lindsay or Sydney Greenbush as Carrie Ingalls
“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.”
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The young actress is the first person to be cast since news of the reboot broke earlier this year. The official logline describes it as a “part hopeful family drama, part epic survival tale and part origin story of the American West,” that “offers a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.”
Halsey’s previous credits include Lessons in Chemistry, Days of Our Lives, Night Court and voicework on Kindergarten: The Musical.
Related: Little House on the Prairie Cast: Where Are They Now?
Laura was originally played by Melissa Gilbert, who was the same age as Halsey when the series premiered over 50 years ago in 1974. It ran for nine seasons before concluding in 1983.
Apple TV+ /Courtesy Everett Collection; NBCU Photo Bank
Alice Halsey and Melissa Gilbert
While Gilbert has refrained from commenting on the new project, she did clarify that it is “a remake, not a reboot,” during an interview with PEOPLE in February.
“There’s no reason to capture the spirit of the original at all,” she said. “I’m hoping, and from what I understand, is that the remake will hew closer to the books than we did. There’s a lot of information and beautiful stories to mine from the actual writings of Little House.”
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“There’s no reason to go off-roading and adding characters that didn’t exist,” she added. “There’s plenty of people in the Little House world that still haven’t been talked about on our version of the show. We really twisted the true story around quite a bit.”
As for the possibility of a return to the Little House universe in the future, Gilbert admitted that it isn’t something she sees happening for herself.
“That’s a conversation to be had another day, or maybe not,” she noted. “My knee-jerk reaction is that I think they should create their own whole universe and maybe not try and cross things over too much or cross the streams as it were.”
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