Here’s How LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE Showrunner Found the Perfect Cast

Published: July 10, 2026

By Michaela Gordoni

Here’s how Netflix’s LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine found the perfect cast to play the Ingalls family.

The series stars Luke Bracey as Charles, Crosby Fitzgerald as Caroline, 11-year-old Alice Halsey as Laura and 14-year-old Skywalker Hughes as Mary. Little Carrie hasn’t arrived yet in the series.

It was important to Sonnenshine that Charles and Caroline have a believable romance.

“That was really [what we were] looking for, a great chemistry,” the showrunner told PEOPLE. “The real Charles and Caroline were madly in love.”

She’s drawn to the story because as much as it is about family, it’s about their love story, too.

Bracey has “a gentleness, but he’s also very rugged,” Sonnenshine said. “I can totally picture him on the prairie, for real. Even before we had him out there, I’m like, ‘He could build a log cabin.’”

Fitzgerald is “strong. She’s actually very funny; she’s got great timing,” Sonnenshine said. “She’s really beautiful and real and feels so connected to her [TV] kids. And I think when you watch it as an audience member, you feel very connected to Caroline and she feels so connected to Luke. They have a great chemistry.”

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Hughes auditioned for Laura, but when Sonnenshine saw her, she knew she was meant for Mary.

“There’s just something about her. She has this extraordinary grace and gentleness,” she explained.

She thought Halsey would do the best job of bringing Laura to life.

“I think that Alice has sort of got this innate curiosity for the world and she’s such a wonderful, deep actress that can really draw you in,” Sonnenshine said. “And as a viewer, it’s just really incredibly emotional scenes that feel very real. So, I knew right away, that I said, ‘Oh, that’s Laura,’ because she really embodies the spirit of Laura.”

Sonnenshine told Tudum that the Ingallses are irresistible — when you watch, you want to be right there with them.

“That’s really at the core of what LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE is about: a family that is there for each other, tells stories to each other, tells stories about themselves,” she said.

Sonnenshine wants people to know that the west wasn’t all horses, men and guns. Women have always been the backbones.

“I think a lot of our pop culture portrays the West as men riding around with guns and solving problems with violence and posturing, but that is just not how it was settled. This is not how communities were formed,” she told Deadline. “It was women, they were the backbone of the country, the formation of the country, and so I really wanted to explore that.”

Movieguide® gave Episode 1 a +2 content score and praised its “strong moral worldview” that emphasizes “family, hope, kindness and people helping other people.” The series is available now to stream on Netflix.

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