Luke Bracey Teases Big Change for Charles in Season 2 (Exclusive)

Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie Season 1 launched a brand new era to the beloved Ingalls household, bringing Laura Ingalls Wilder‘s timeless frontier tales to thousands and thousands of latest viewers whereas honoring a household that has meant a lot to audiences for many years.

Australian actor Luke Bracey has stepped into the formidable sneakers of Charles “Pa” Ingalls, taking up certainly one of tv’s most beloved father figures. While making the long-lasting function his personal, Bracey has helped usher the Ingalls household into a brand new period.

Bracey, who not too long ago partnered with Mermaid Gin, the award-winning British craft spirits model that has now launched in the U.S., spoke with TV Insider in regards to the legacy of Little House on the Prairie, the duty of enjoying Charles Ingalls, and what followers can count on from the already-renewed second season.

Did you understand straight away simply how beloved this franchise? Or did you at all times know?

Luke Bracey: I discovered after I began making it. I used to be fairly unaware of simply how huge it was. I didn’t have any connection to it. I heard the title, perhaps, however I didn’t know what it was. And then I began making it and was telling a number of individuals, “I’ve been making the show called Little House on the Prairie,” and I used to be actually struck by the vary of people who cherished it, and from totally different elements of the world, totally different ages, totally different generations… I used to be simply actually struck by how many individuals from many alternative walks of life cherished the present and cherished the books and cherished the story, and that sort of struck me. I’ll inform you what, I’m fairly completely happy I didn’t know earlier than I began filming it. Otherwise, I might need been a bit too terrified.

Why do you suppose audiences, 50 years later, are nonetheless drawn to the Ingalls household?

I believe these tales sort of present that life has at all times acquired challenges, however there’s a manner of going through these challenges, and that it’s about making an attempt to be individual, making an attempt to be member of your loved ones, and making an attempt to be member of your group. Things are going to go unsuitable, however in the event you preserve getting up and shifting ahead, that’s the honorable factor. And in the event you preserve doing that in an honorable manner, there’s one thing that folks join with there.

They’re nice function fashions. They’re not excellent. They’re not excellent individuals, however they fight their finest to be good individuals. I believe it’s very easy in this point in time to sit down there and go, “Oh, it’s so much easier back then, and if we only didn’t have phones, and they’d be all great.” And I believe one other factor that folks need to see is that life has at all times had its challenges, and perhaps just like the Ingalls and their story brings the simplicity again to life, however not in the lifestyle being straightforward, however in the straightforward issues of what really issues: household, mates, group.

I believe that’s what individuals hook up with: good people who attempt to make group. It’s one thing that everybody needs to be part of, regardless of the place they’re from in the world, it doesn’t matter what time they stay.

Michael Landon‘s Charles Ingalls is without doubt one of the most iconic fathers in tv historical past. Did you make a acutely aware effort to create your personal model of Charles? Did you attempt to pay homage to him in a way?

No, I might say I used to be fairly acutely aware of creating my very own half. The scripts that Rebecca Sonnenshine, the showrunner, had written had been simply good, actually. There’s no manner for anybody to be excellent, and Pa isn’t an ideal man. He’s man, and I simply wished to try to make attempt make him as human as doable.

I believe in the books Laurie Ingalls Wilder wrote, Pa was this considerably flawless determine, and that’s as a result of it’s by the recollection of a 10-year-old woman. But I simply thought for a present immediately, I wished him to be as actual as doable whereas nonetheless holding these nice attributes that everybody loves about him. The truth that he’s man, the truth that he does need to be an excellent husband and an excellent father and an excellent member of his group, the great attributes that I wished him to maintain, however I additionally wished him to have the ability to make errors and be taught from them.

I believe if he’s not making errors, he’s by no means acquired the prospect to be taught. And anybody in life ought to be seeking to be taught. And in the event you’re not making errors, it’s laborious to be taught. There had been these parts that I wished him to have, however I nonetheless wished him to be a determine that folks regarded as much as and a determine that folks admired.

Season 2 strikes the Ingalls household to Walnut Grove. Can you preview how that adjustments life for the Ingalls household?

It’s a much bigger city. It’s somewhat bit extra of a home scenario. They’re not as remoted. They’ve acquired extra interactions with individuals and discovering their place in a much bigger group, and that goes for Laura and Mary as nicely. They’re going to high school, and there are different youngsters round, they usually’re rising as younger individuals, and similar with Charles and with Caroline (Crosby Fitzgerald).

They’ve acquired a much bigger city to be part of and a much bigger group to be part of. I believe that’s a pleasant factor of season two. We get off the tough and tumble of the frontier, and it’s nonetheless a bit tough and tumble. Don’t fear, the Ingalls nonetheless have their challenges, each certainly one of them. But I believe we simply get to see somewhat bit extra of what life, perhaps on a regular basis life, might be like typically, and the challenges that life throws up.

So that’s the shift we had in Season 2. But there’s actually loads of twists and turns, and loads of ups and downs, and the Ingalls are nonetheless making an attempt to be loving family members. So it’s acquired all the good parts that we love. It’s just a bit totally different in the tales that we get to inform in the second season; I believe that’s the thrilling factor about it. We’re not telling the identical story as Season 1.

Eric Zachanowich/Netflix

Is there one other facet of Charles that we’ll get to see in Season 2?

I believe, with Charles, he does develop up somewhat bit. He, as I stated, is in a much bigger city, and there is a little more duty. He finds himself on the middle of a group in a manner that he didn’t count on. There’s a personality that sees the potential in Charles as a pacesetter, and it’s not one thing that Charles would ever consider for himself. He’s a modest man, a humble man, and so it takes this different character to sort of see the magic in Charles and his capacity to guide individuals and assist them out.

I’ve actually loved that sort of a part of Charles. It’s been good to see him uncover. We’re solely a few episodes in, so there’s an extended option to go. But it’s been good to see him discover a voice and lose somewhat little bit of this naivety. I believe he’s learnt rather a lot over the previous, from final season to this one, and he’s somewhat bit extra clued in to the probabilities that folks won’t be all that they appear, however he needs to be chief of individuals and assist individuals have higher lives. That’s an thrilling a part of the season that I’m having fun with with Charles.

Millions of viewers have by no means learn the books or seen the unique sequence. What do you hope their first impression of Little House on the Prairie is?

I hope they go away with a way that life has at all times acquired its challenges, and that it’s straightforward to look again on different instances and suppose that it was less complicated and every part was nice. But the fact is that life’s at all times acquired its challenges, and there’s alternative ways to strategy these challenges. And I believe one of the simplest ways to strategy them is to try to be good individuals. When you get knocked down, get again up once more, and be trustworthy and good members of your loved ones. Be good husbands. Be good wives. Be good daughters. Be good sons. Be good brothers. Be good members of your group. I believe that’s what I need individuals to take from it.

This will not be so totally different from the place we stay now. It’s simply the alternatives you make when confronted with difficulties which are actually the distinction between the instances. How are you going to strategy your life and the issues that you just face in it, and can you have the ability to say that you just face them with humility and with energy and with honor? I believe there are good issues that folks can take from the present. It’s all proper to make errors, however be taught from these errors and try to be higher subsequent time.

Little House on the Prairie, Season 1, Streaming Now, Netflix

Little House on the Prairie, Season 2, 2027, Netflix