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Melissa Gilbert has reacted to Megyn Kelly’s recent comments about Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie reboot.
Hours after news broke that the streamer had commissioned a reboot of the Western classic, Kelly, 54, took to X/Twitter to threaten Netflix, writing: “If you wokeify Little House on the Prairie I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project.”
Gilbert, 60, who starred in the original nine-season adaptation of the book series as Laura Ingalls Wilder, later responded to The Megyn Kelly Show host in an Instagram post.
Telling former Fox News host Kelly to rewatch the original, the actor wrote: “Apparently Megyn tweeted (I’m not on that platform) asking that Netflix not ‘woke-Ify’ their Little House remake.
“Ummm…watch the original again. TV doesn’t get too much more ‘woke’ than we did. We tackled:racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse and every other ‘woke’ topic you can think.”
Based on the best-selling book series by Wilder, the original Little House on the Prairie was produced by Ed Friendly and ran on NBC for over 200 episodes from 1974 to 1983. It received 16 Emmy nominations and three Golden Globe nods.
The critically acclaimed show has recently enjoyed a resurgence thanks to its streaming availability on Peacock.
Speaking to People at a 50th-anniversary event for the show, Gilbert said she believes the continued popularity of the series is because “it’s a reflection of all the things that people crave in life: family, community, love, faith and hope.”
“It’s all the good juicy things that make human beings so wonderful and different from animals. I mean, that connection. And Little House is a reminder of that,” she added.
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The new series will be produced by Friendly’s son Trip under their Friendly Family Productions banner.
“It has been a long-held dream of mine to carry on my father’s legacy and adapt Wilder’s classic American stories for a 21st century audience in a way that brings together fans of both the books and the original television series,” Trip said in a statement.
“I am thrilled by our talented creative team led by Rebecca Sonnenshine who are bringing these beloved stories about family, community, and survival to longtime fans and new generations.”
This is not the first time a reboot of the beloved series has been mooted. A film adaptation was underway in 2014 but never made it to the screen.
