When Netflix introduced the long-awaited Little House on the Prairie reboot final week, Melissa Gilbert — star of the unique sequence, which ran from 1974-1984 on NBC — determined she was going to maintain her mouth shut. Not as a result of she didn't have something good to say, however as a result of she didn't need her feedback to overshadow this new adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved novels.

"I mentioned, 'I'm simply not going to remark. I'm simply going to let it’s as a result of I would like them to have their very own factor. And in the event that they want me later, we'll speak about it,'" Gilbert tells Leisure Weekly. "However then Megyn Kelly needed to open her [long pause] face, and make a — I'm attempting actually laborious recently to not use dangerous phrases, so I might simply say a cotton-headed ninny-muggins remark about [the reboot]."

Gilbert took to Instagram to talk out in opposition to Kelly's remark — wherein the previous Fox Information host threatened to "completely break" the Netflix reboot if the streamer selected to "woke-ify" Little House on the Prairie — as a result of it revealed how little Kelly actually knew concerning the OG sequence. "Did you watch the unique? Have you ever seen the episode 'The Knowledge of Solomon'? I don't suppose we get extra woke than that," Gilbert continues. "Did she see any of the episodes we did about drug habit, about nativism, about Native Individuals, chauvinists, anti-semitism, rape, little one abuse, little one neglect, industrialization? I imply, we lined every little thing that's occurring on the earth nonetheless. It's not my job to defend the phrase 'woke,' however to my thoughts, it simply means compassion for all. I don't perceive why that's a nasty factor, and I don't suppose anybody can ever persuade me of that."

Little House star Melissa Gilbert looks back on Michael Landon blowing up Walnut Grove

After enjoying Laura Ingalls Wilder for a decade of her life, Gilbert says she has no drawback with Netflix's new adaptation, which is able to start by following the third e-book in Wilder's sequence.

"I believe there's room within the Little Home universe for all completely different sorts of tales to be instructed — similar to there was at all times room within the Little Women universe to maintain retelling that story," says the actress, who co-founded the approach to life model Fashionable Prairie in 2022. "These are basic tales, and nobody's finished it the place they hewed to the books utterly. [The original] was Michael Landon's interpretation, and now it's time for another person's interpretation. And I believe there's loads of room for that. And I believe there's lots of different tales to mine past that. So I believe this opens the door in lots of methods for all types of Little Home on the Prairie initiatives."

Gilbert provides that the brand new challenge could have a chance "to do issues that we didn't get to do essentially so simply within the '70s," particularly in terms of casting.

Long-awaited Little House on the Prairie reboot coming to Netflix

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"They’ll make an precise level of hiring Native American actors to play the Native Individuals, which we didn't do. We have been definitely inclusive and open to it, nevertheless it wasn't a prerequisite," explains the actress, who's at present starring within the Off Broadway play Still. "And now they will take a look at it with a brand new lens and say, 'This half ought to be performed by Native American actors.' I imply, God love the Jewish males who performed them on our present. I beloved them dearly. I personally, being the Jewish Half-Pint, completely understood it. However carry them in. Usher in Dr. Tann, the precise Black physician who handled the Ingalls household. Convey all of those folks in and inform the story."

Little Home on the Prairie is streaming now on Peacock.

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