There’s a new house on the prairie.
Gen-Xers likely remember growing up with the gentle Western series “Little House on the Prairie,” which ran on NBC from 1974 to 1983. “Little House” was a cultural juggernaut at the time, lasting a blockbuster 200 episodes over its nine seasons. The original show starred Michael Landon as the stalwart Charles Ingalls, the patriarch of the Ingalls family, and followed closely the young Laura, played by Melissa Gilbert. The series was an adaptation of the autobiographical novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote a string of kid-friendly memoirs about her experience as a young girl pioneer in the late 1800s. Wilder wrote eight “Little House” books from 1932 to 1943, and the TV series took its title from Wilder’s third book.
Hollywood, seeing some lingering cultural I.P. has now resurrected “Little House on the Prairie” in 2026, this time for a streaming platform. The Netflix series debuted on July 8 and lasted eight episodes. The new Laura is played by Alice Halsey, and the new Charles is played by Australian actor Luke Bracey.
It’s possible you recognize Luke Bracey, as he has been appearing on screen professionally since 2009. He began on the Australian soap opera “Home and Away,” and broke into movies in 2011 with the film “Monte Carlo,” a romance with Selena Gomez and Leighton Meester. That was the one where Gomez played both a lovelorn American teenager and the snotty British socialite she was mistaken for. Shenanigans ensue. Bracey played the love interest of the Meester character.
Bracey’s most visible leading role came in 2015 when he played Johnny Utah in the remake of “Point Break.”
Luke Bracey has been in many hit Hollywood movies
You definitely would not recognize Luke Bracey for his role as the Cobra Commander in Jon M. Chu’s 2013 actioner “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” as his face was covered and his voice was provided by Robert Baker. If you liked the character’s body language, though, that was all Bracey, baby.
Luke Bracey is one of those reliable, good-looking actors who has been slowly building an impressive resume ever since “Monte Carlo.” His handsome face has long had him pigeonholed for soldiers, cops, and other bland leading roles. He played a CIA guy in the film “The November Man,” and the younger version of James Marsden’s character in the romance “The Best of Me,” based on the Nicholas Sparks novel. He was one of the soldiers in Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge” in 2016, before landing another leading role in the heist comedy “Lucky Day,” which was Roger Avary’s semi-sequel to the indie crime hit “Killing Zoe.”
Bracey continued to work pretty regularly, appearing in Justine Bateman’s directorial debut “Violet” in 2021, and landing the role of Jettry Schilling (one of Elvis Presley’s “Memphis Mafia” members) in Aussie director Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” in 2022. He has moved back and forth from Hollywood and Australia, appearing in mainstream American studio films like “Maybe I Do” with Diane Keaton and Richard Gere, and Aussie TV shows like “The Artful Dodger.” His most recent movie was Bruce Beresford’s “The Travellers,” in which he appeared opposite Bryan Brown. His most recent TV show was, well, “Little House on the Prairie.” At 37, he has had a pretty okay career, and it’s been extensive enough for a casual viewer to remark, “Hey, I’ve seen him before.”
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