Little House on the Prairie, the Netflix reboot of the 1974 show, is going to be released on Netflix on July 9, 2026. The show is thus based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s semi-autobiographical novel series of the same name, and season 1 will specifically adapt book 3.
While Little House on the Prairie will tell the stories of the same people as the original show, it will differ from the original show in one major way, which is its setting.
Why is the Little House on the Prairie Netflix series not set in Walnut Grove, Minnesota?
According to the trailer of Little House on the Prairie, the show will follow Charles, Caroline, Laura, and Mary Ingalls as they move from Pepin, Wisconsin, to Independence, Kansas. Any viewer who has watched the original 1974 show and is a fan might notice the difference in the setting of the two shows.
The original show was set in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and much of the family’s story was rooted in the region. However, in the new Netflix adaptation, the Ingalls are moving to Independence, Kansas. Fans might feel that it’s strange to not see the family in Walnut Grove, a place fans deeply associate with the Ingalls.
The reason we won’t be seeing the Ingalls in Walnut Grove is not because the new show is rewriting the family’s story. Instead, the show is going to tell the family’s story from an earlier point, before they had even arrived at Walnut Grove. Book 3 follows the Ingalls as they try to make a home at Independence, and the Little House on the Prairie Season 1 will adapt that story.
According to the books, the Ingalls family first moved from Pepin, Wisconsin, to Independence, Kansas. They built a house on the prairie in Independence (as we will see in the upcoming show) but eventually left when they discovered that they had settled on protected Native American reservation territory.
They then moved from Independence, Kansas back to Pepin, Wisconsin. A while later the family moved to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. That is where the original show was set. Little House on the Prairie Season 2 has been confirmed, and we might see them move back to Wisconsin or Walnut Grove (with perhaps an episode of two dedicated to them going back to Wisconsin) in the second season.
Irrespective of where they move, the Ingalls have always been hopeful, willing to adapt to new places and find new versions of themselves. As Rebecca Sonnenshine, the showrunner, pointed out about the show to Tudum by Netflix,
“It’s about people deciding who they want to be, and it’s about people looking for a better life,”
She added,
“It leans into the idea that it’s never too late to do that. You always have a chance to reinvent and to rediscover who you are, what means something to you, what kind of people you want to be, what kind of adventures you want to take, what kind of life you want to seek.”
Little House on the Prairie will have eight episodes, and all the episodes will be released on Netflix on July 9, 2026.
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Edited by Riddhee