{"id":2517027,"date":"2026-07-25T16:10:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T16:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2517027"},"modified":"2026-07-25T16:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T16:10:05","slug":"little-house-on-the-prairie-production-designer-reveals-reboots-behind-the-scenes-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/little-house-on-the-prairie-production-designer-reveals-reboots-behind-the-scenes-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Little House on the Prairie&#8217; production designer reveals reboot&#8217;s behind-the-scenes secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fcrop-40076892.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>They showed their true pioneer spirit. <\/p>\n<p>The crew behind the Netflix reboot of \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d recreated every aspect of that 19th-century world from scratch \u2014 including a pair of 96,000-pound log cabins.<\/p>\n<p>It took over 200 members in the art department to painstakingly create the props, and 32 in the costume department to make the clothing. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cWhen you have a show with a fan base like this \u2026 it\u2019s sort of a razor-thin line to walk. You want to honor the things that the fans are expecting \u2026 but also you\u2019re doing a new take on it,\u201d \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u2019s\u201d production designer, Jonah Markowitz, told The Post. <span class=\"credit\">ERIC ZACHANOWICH\/NETFLIX<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re hand-sewing every buttonhole. They\u2019re hand-nailing in the nails on the bottom of every shoe,\u201d said production designer Jonah Markowitz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCaroline rips a dress in the first episode in the wagon crossing, that might become an outfit that she makes on a doll later that Laura\u2019s holding, by the end of the season that might be patched together as a dish towel.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Markowitz, who spoke to The Post from the show\u2019s set in Winnipeg while filming Season 2, said this<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/28\/us-news\/love-story-production-designer-dishes-on-paparazzi-frenzy\/\"> production <\/a>was unlike most period pieces set in the 1800s, because they filmed on a high-grassed prairie instead of a backlot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsually when you do a Western or something of this genre at this scale, you go to a backlot and you sort of change some things or add some buildings \u2026 there is no backlot here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The biggest challenge for the production department was building the town of Independence, which is in Laura Ingalls Wilder\u2019s third book, but not in the original series. <span class=\"credit\">Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For the reimagined \u201cLittle House\u201d \u2014 which premiered on Netflix on July 9 \u2014 the most challenging part was designing the town of Independence, Kan., and building it \u201cfrom the ground up,\u201d Markowitz recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe started with a field full of snow that I came to on my first scout here . . .  They said, \u2018What do you think about putting the town here? And I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t know what\u2019s under this snow.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Two 96,000-pound log cabins were constructed for the reboot. <span class=\"credit\">ERIC ZACHANOWICH\/NETFLIX<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The original <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/15\/us-news\/brady-bunch-house-might-be-designated-a-landmark-heres-what-it-means-to-peter-actor-christopher-knight\/\">TV series<\/a> and the reboot are based on the beloved books Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about her childhood in the 1800s, so when they built the two log cabins, one in a field and one on their soundstage, they followed the steps she described in her novels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe writes about how her father made the cabin and there were no nails, it was all notched logs, the doors had no hinges, it was wooden pegs, and we did that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Another challenge was that the actual building of the cabin was featured in an episode.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Season 1 of the series was filmed from June until September in Winnipeg, Canada. <span class=\"credit\">ERIC ZACHANOWICH\/NETFLIX<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo then we had to have all these meetings about how are we going to do these stages of the cabins as we go through the episode,\u201d Markowitz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe assistant directors who are in charge of the schedule come in and they say, \u2018We want to have the three logs down and then we\u2019re going to go away for a couple minutes and then have six logs up,\u2019 and you have to tell them, \u2018We have to get a road in here with a crane to put those in.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cWe have a lot of things that they always say are like the hardest things to work with \u2014 which are animals, kids, and water,\u201d Markowitz said. <span class=\"credit\">ERIC ZACHANOWICH\/NETFLIX<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Even though there are a lot of moving parts on set, Markowitz said there thankfully haven\u2019t been any major mishaps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot of things that they always say are like the hardest things to work with \u2014 which are animals, kids, and water. And we do it all the time, all three of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The animals \u2014 horses, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/03\/us-news\/nyc-dogs-are-recreating-celebs-met-gala-looks-at-this-years-pet-gala\/\">dogs<\/a> and cats \u2014 bring a calming presence to the set.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo go and get to walk over to a horse and have it nuzzle against you when you\u2019re stressed out and working \u2026 I think it just adds a real levity and playfulness to the set that\u2019s really beautiful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The horses, dogs and cats on set provide a calming presence, Markowitz said. <span class=\"credit\">ERIC ZACHANOWICH\/NETFLIX<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In Season 2, the Ingalls relocate to Walnut Grove, Minn., so they had to build all new sets again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything was new for us, 100%. It was starting completely clean again,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s actually kind of fun to come back \u2026 and build a whole new world, but for the characters you\u2019ve already come to know.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They showed their true pioneer spirit. The crew behind the Netflix reboot of \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d recreated every aspect of that 19th-century world from scratch \u2014 including a pair of 96,000-pound log cabins. It took over 200 members in the art department to painstakingly create the props, and 32 in the costume department [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2517028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[25538,22762,392867,349305,21741,22304,306903,22205,306886],"class_list":["post-2517027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-actors","tag-canada","tag-costumes","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-kansas","tag-minnesota","tag-television","tag-tv-reboots"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Little-House-on-the-Prairie-production-designer-reveals-reboots-behind-the-scenes.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2517027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2517029,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517027\/revisions\/2517029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2517028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2517027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2517027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2517027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}