{"id":16221,"date":"2026-07-10T22:17:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16221"},"modified":"2026-07-10T22:17:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:17:32","slug":"little-house-on-the-prairie-showrunner-says-woke-fears-are-overblown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16221","title":{"rendered":"Little House on the Prairie showrunner says ‘woke’ fears are overblown"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Netflix\u2019s newly released “Little House on the Prairie” reboot is facing claims it has turned the beloved story into a politically correct overhaul, with the show\u2019s creator addressing “woke” concerns.<\/p>\n

The eight-episode season premiered on Thursday to generally favorable reviews, sitting at a 75% critic score but a less enthusiastic 58% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, accusations of the show being “woke” flew before it even aired, and now the creator and showrunner of the reboot, Rebecca Sonnenshine, is pushing back, saying people are “worried for no reason.”<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m not even sure what \u2018woke\u2019 means to people anymore, to be honest,” Sonnenshine told Variety. “I know what I think it means, which is the definition of it being aware and alert to social injustice and prejudice, in particular racial prejudice. So, when people say, \u2018I hope it\u2019s not woke,\u2019 I think, \u2018Really? Oh, that\u2019s interesting.\u2019 But I don\u2019t think people are using it in that manner.”<\/p>\n

‘LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE’ RETURNS AS NEW NETFLIX ADAPTATION AIMS FOR WHOLESOME ENTERTAINMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A screenshot from Netflix\u2019s teaser trailer for the new “Little House on the Prairie” reboot features the Ingalls family.<\/span> (Screenshot\/YouTube Netflix)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I think it\u2019s just become a catch-all word for things that I don\u2019t quite understand. If I had to sum it up, what people are afraid of is that something from their childhood will be portrayed in a way that scares them,” she added.<\/p>\n

The show is based on Laura Ingalls Wilder\u2019s “Little House” books and follows the legacy of the original TV series, which ran in the 1970s and lasted for nearly a decade. It centers around the Ingalls family as they leave Wisconsin to create a new homestead near Independence, Kansas, on the 1800s frontier.<\/p>\n

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The cast of the original “Little House on the Prairie” television series includes Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls, Karen Grassle as Caroline Ingalls, Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls, Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls and Lindsay or Sidney Greenbush as Carrie Ingalls.<\/span> (NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Some television critics have accused the show of sanitizing the premise and presenting a less-rugged view of the time period. A television critic at Slate noted that Netflix “did indeed woke-ify” the show, writing that the family\u2019s new close friends are “an Osage couple, a Black doctor and Black storekeeper, and a French Canadian woman who wears trousers and practices free love.”<\/p>\n

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But Sonnenshine insists the show is intent on “exploring some interesting issues,” and told Variety, “I think conservative people are really interested in Native American stories, honestly. When people watch the show, it\u2019s like, \u2018We want to know more about the (mixed-race Osage family) Mitchells,\u2019 and that\u2019s kind of across the board.”<\/p>\n

“I think that they\u2019ll really like it. I think people just are afraid of whatever they\u2019re afraid of, and that\u2019s OK. But I honestly think that there\u2019s nothing to be afraid of, and it\u2019s a story that will really resonate with everybody,” she added.<\/p>\n

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Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lucy Lee Flippin as Eliza Jane Wilder appear in a scene from “Little House on the Prairie.”<\/span> (NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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When the reboot was announced, some conservative commentators were concerned about the show\u2019s reimagining of the beloved storyline. This prompted Melissa Gilbert, who starred in the show for nine seasons, to respond on Threads that the original was also “woke.”<\/p>\n

“Ummm\u2026watch the original again. TV doesn\u2019t get too much more \u2018woke\u2019 than we did. We tackled: racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse and every other \u2018woke\u2019 topic you can think of. Thank you very much,” Gilbert wrote.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to Netflix for comment, but did not immediately hear back.<\/p>\n

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Madison Colombo is a writer for Fox News Digital\u2019s Flash, Media, and Culture team, covering daily breaking news and trending topics with an award-winning background in broadcast and digital journalism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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