Little House on the Prairie's Dean Butler Addresses Differences in Reboot, Reveals Why It Will 'Never' Be Like the OG Series

Mar. 15, 2025

Dean Butler as Almanzo James Wilder.Photo:NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Dean Butleris sharing his true feelings onNetflix’s upcomingLittle House on the Prairiereboot.

Reacting to the news in an interview withReMIND, Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder in the original show from 1979 through 1983, began: “There have been so many different announcements about reboots or re-imaginings, but this had a different feel to it. This felt like this was really real.”

“One of the first feelings, in all honesty, is probably, well, ‘If this works, are they going to forget about what we did all those years ago?'" he explained. “And then the next thought is, ‘It’s going to be very difficult to create something that touches people’s hearts in the way that the original did.'”

(l-r) Melissa Gilbert as Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder, Michelle Steffin as Rose Wilder, Dean Butler as Almanzo James Wilder.NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Reflecting on the work of the original series creatorMichael Landon, Butler said that his “certain specific kind of touching, personal, intimate storytelling about the human condition” resonated with the audience at the time. With a new generation of viewers, Butler is curious to see how the show shifts to fit the modern climate.

“The audience has changed,” he said. “What is the television audience and what do they want? … There’s a very different expectation. And if this adaptation ofLittle Housecan meet the expectation of this more current audience and bring along a few of those who have loved it, it’s going to be very successful.”

Still, Butler noted that nothing will ever be quite like the original series, which made people watching at home feel like part of theLittle Housefamily.

“Michael was Michael,” he said. “He was a unique creative presence with this magical touch with an audience. And look, the creative team on the new show may also have a magical touch with an audience, but it’s a different touch and it will be different.”

“There was enormous aspiration in what Michael was doing,” he later added. “Michael said years ago, ‘People will be watching this long after we’re all gone.’ Well, at 25, when he said that, it felt a little hyperbole to me. It’s like, ‘come on now.’ Now, at 68, I’m looking at this, and I’m saying, ‘yeah, absolutely people are going to be watching this.”

(top l-r) Matthew Laborteaux as Albert Quinn Ingalls, Melissa Gilbert as Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder, Michael Landon as Charles Philip Ingalls, Dean Butler as Almanzo James Wilder, Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls Kendall, Linwood Boomer as Adam Kendall, (bottom l-r) Karen Grassle as Caroline Quiner Holbrook Ingalls, Lindsay/Sidney Greenbush as Carrie Ingalls.NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

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Echoing Butler’s statements, his former costarAlison Arngrimalso told the outlet she wouldn’t even consider the new series a “reboot.”

“It’s not really like a reboot, they’re not going back to Walnut Grove,” she said. “They’re not going to have Doc Baker and Miss Beadle, and they’re certainly not going to have Al Burton, and all the people who were made up for the show. It is going back to the books.”

“There are many properties that do get remade with whole new cast and whole new looks and whole new ways of looking at it quite successfully,” she explained. “And we often find, ‘Oh, that one didn’t work. That one wasn’t good. Oh, I really like this one better than that one.’ So as strange as it may sound, Laura Ingalls’ books andLittle House on the Prairiemay be one of those things that is eternal and it’s just going to keep happening.”

She added: “It’s kind of like you have the multiverse, the superhero multiverse…This is like that. This is part of the Laura Ingalls Wilder multiverse.”

source: people.com