Little House on the Prairie: Why isn’t the Netflix show set in Walnut Grove, and where are the real life filming locations?
The setting might be a little different, but the reimagining is full of the same grit and heart as the original
It's a bold move to recreate such an iconic classic, but Netflix have taken the plunge and brought a rebooted version of Little House on the Prairie to our screens.
Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s iconic semi-autobiographical Little House books, the original series ran between 1974-1983. Airing from July 9, the reimagining contains eight episodes, and has already been renewed for a second run before its even premiered.
While most remember the original to be a tale of hope, survival and an origin story of the American West, it wasn't the entirely wholesome show people remember. It actually incorporated themes of child abuse, addiction, murder, and a whole host of mental health storylines.
The new series has promised to be faithful to the original, with a fresh and updated take that is more historically grounded. Many viewers have questions about the setting - and while the reboot will be set in the same 1870s onwards era, the location will be different.
We look at why the new Little House on the Prairie isn't set in Walnut Grove, and where the real life filming locations can be found.
Why isn't the new Little House on the Prairie set in Walnut Grove?
Most fans of the original Little House on the Prairie associate it with being set in Walnut Grove, yet the reboot is set in Independence, Kansas.
However, we'll find the Ingalls family, Charles (Luke Bracey), Caroline (Crosby Fitzgerald), Laura (Alice Halsey) and Mary (Skywalker Hughes) setting up home in the Independence setting because this closely follows the source material.
If you've read Laura Ingalls Wilder's 1930s novels, you might remember that the Ingalls' did indeed build their first house in Independence, moving to the Southeastern Kansas location first after leaving the "big woods", before moving on to Walnut Grove later.
When the original 1974 series began, most of the action took place in Walnut Grove, with only the pilot touching upon the Ingalls' travelling from Pepin, Wisconsin to Independence, before then moving on to settle in Walnut Grove.
It therefore appears that further seasons of the reboot will feature the Walnut Grove location that fans so fondly associate with the show.
Where is the new Little House on the Prairie filmed?
While the storyline plays out in Southeastern Kansas, the Little House on the Prairie reboot was filmed entirely in Manitoba, Canada, largely in Cooks Creek.
The Manitoba landscape is full of lakes, mountains, forests and prairies, with the wilderness protected in more than 80 provincial parks. Cooks Creek is a small rural community that sits just east of Winnipeg.
Showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine tells CBC this area was chosen because of the province's "sweeping landscapes and tallgrass scenery", which offered an open, "untouched" prairie look that was perfect for the show.
The area also experiences cold, snowy and wet winter weather that can last into spring. Filming therefore had to wait until June last year to begin, and the cast and crew still saw "major floods, tornadoes, lightning and extreme winds, along with ticks and bugs."
Rebecca explains, "We're going through it, just like the Ingalls," adding, "We get a little taste of what it was like on the prairie, although, of course, we have lots of modern conveniences."
According to Movie Walks, some scenes were also filmed in Fort Gibraltar, a reconstructed 19th century fur trading post in Winnipeg.
The original fort was built in 1809, and has seen scenes of conflict that saw it captured and destroyed. Today, visitors to the fort see a faithful reconstruction of the original, that serves as a living museum built in the 20th century.
Buildings carefully constructed to carefully recreate the originals would be ready made sets for Little House on the Prairie, perfect for accurately bringing the late 19th century to life.
Little House on the Prairie airs on Netflix from July 9.
