The Data Driving The Return Of ‘Little House On The Prairie’

The resurgence of interest in Little House on the Prairie has been revealed in data from Google which shows that searches for the hit 1970s western peaked last year as its popularity surged on Peacock ahead of Netflix commissioning a reboot.

Based on the semi-autobiographical books by 19th century author Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House tells the story of the Ingalls family as they struggle to make ends meet in the tiny midwestern town of Walnut Grove during the pioneer era.

Despite being fundamentally about farming, Little House’s action kept viewers engaged with the show. It frequently featured shootouts in saloons, mine cave-ins and tense hunts through forests woven into storylines dealing with everything from racism to blindness.

However, the real secret to its success were its characters as each of them represented common personality types which made the show relatable. There was the upper-class shop owner and her put-upon husband. Their pampered children were the local bullies who even managed to irritate the good-natured doctor.

The Ingalls family were the working-class heroes with the patriarch Charles ploughing the fields whilst his wife Caroline raised their young children. Even they fit familiar personality types as Laura was the pig-tailed precocious character whilst her sister Mary was more studious.

It’s a quintessentially American tale so it’s perhaps not surprising that viewers gravitated to it during the dark times of the pandemic. In 2020 NBC put the original episodes on its Peacock streaming service bringing them to the attention of a new and younger audience. They liked what they saw.

The show’s popularity grew and in December 2020, Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content announced they were developing a one-hour reboot. It didn’t get off the ground but that wasn’t the end of the story.

Last year Little House was one of Nielsen’s top legacy streaming titles with a staggering 13.3 billion minutes of viewing time. It reportedly topped the viewing for any new original series in 2024, with adults aged 35 to 64 making up 63% of the total audience.

This surge in interest is reflected in data from Google Trends which analyzes the popularity of top search queries. As shown in the chart below, Little House reached peak popularity in July 2024 with a score of 100 which represents the maximum relative interest worldwide rather than the absolute number of searches.

That swung it for Netflix and in January it commissioned a series with Rebecca Sonnenshine of The Boys and The Vampire Diaries as showrunner. In order to add authenticity, Trip Friendly, son of the original series’ executive producer Ed Friendly, has been taken over from his father on the reboot.

Production is currently underway in Canada ahead of a 2026 release. Its cast is largely little-known with perhaps the biggest name being Australian actor Luke Bracey who starred in Elvis, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Hacksaw Ridge. He plays Charles Ingalls and it could be a make or break role for the show regardless of how much money Netflix throws at it.

The late Michael Landon memorably played Charles Ingalls in the original show and it is unlikely anyone could beat his performance. Landon had a matinee-idol appearance and so much charisma that he could convey emotions and sentiments with a look, a skill which is sorely lacking in Hollywood today. The caliber of his acting was magnified by magnificent interaction with his fellow cast members, especially a young Melissa Gilbert who played Laura Ingalls with some of the most sincere childhood performances to ever grace the small screen.

Landon was also famous for his double act with Victor French who played the gruff outdoor-living Isaiah Edwards in Little House. The duo went on to work together in Highway to Heaven where Landon starred as a literal avenging angel, righting wrongs and looking out for people who couldn’t look out for themselves. It was a superhero series before streaming shows were even a glint in Marvel’s eye. Like Little House, Highway to Heaven is also ripe for a big budget reboot after a previous attempt sunk without a trace.

Little House’s chief rival The Waltons has also been remade and failed to make an impact. For once the odds are against Netflix because so many of its viewers will have seen the original that comparisons are inevitable. Landon’s look was synonymous with Saturday afternoon television for so many adults today and no amount of Netflix’s money will be able to recreate that.