‘Little House on the Prairie’s’ Luke Bracey on Pa’s Trusting Nature

[This story contains some spoilers for the first season of Netflix‘s Little House on the Prairie.]

Luke Bracey didn’t know anything about Little House on the Prairie growing up — Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books and the long-running TV series of the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s didn’t register with him as a child in Australia.

“Possibly the title was familiar,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Once I got the audition, I actually had no concept of what it’s, so it was all a fresh, recent experience for me coming into it. In a way, that may need been a bit bit helpful — I didn’t have anything already in mind of what it was or what it needs to be.”

Bracey in fact landed the role of Charles Ingalls in Netflix’s adaptation of Little House, based on Laura Ingalls Widler’s semi-autobiographical novels of her childhood. In the primary season, Charles moves his family — wife Caroline (Crosby Fitzgerald) and daughters Mary (Skywalker Hughes) and Laura (Alice Halsey) — from the woods of Wisconsin to Independence, Kansas, on the promise of abundant (and low-cost) land and a fresh start after a family rift.

After all, things don’t go as easily as Charles had believed they might, and by the tip of the season (as at the tip of the book), the Ingalls family is packing up to maneuver again. After the hoped-for intervention of the U.S. government in a land take care of the native Osage people goes for naught — with Charles discovering he was sold a false promise — and a hearth wipes out the family’s fledgling crops, Pa leads the family toward one other home.

Bracey talked with THR about Charles’ optimism, the issues that arise from it, working with the show’s young stars and looking forward to Little House’s second season.

When you were solid as Charles, did you read the books or delve into the true Ingalls family’s life whilst you were preparing?

I did just a few things with the books. I desired to get the concept and the sensation of the books. One thing our showrunner, Rebecca Sonnenshine, said was that she wanted [viewers] to feel what you felt if you read the books as a child. I didn’t need to do an excessive amount of since the books are from the angle of a young girl, and Pa could be type of perfect in it. We didn’t want him to be perfect. We wanted him to be a human and make some mistakes. But he is also an excellent man. I feel those two things live together in Pa. He definitely makes mistakes, but he’s an excellent man at heart, and he tries to learn from them. There was a little bit of attempting to play that balance of making something recent and something real without it deviating an excessive amount of from the spirit of the books.

I’d say that it comes through pretty clearly that he means well in all respects, but there’s also a sense that perhaps he’s a bit — I don’t know if “naive” is the best word, but possibly overly optimistic when it comes to how he thinks this recent life will play out. What was your read on him in that regard?

I feel those are two words that I’d use. I mean, he’s not only a glass half-full guy. He’s a cup overfloweth guy. His first considered every part is, “What if it’s great? It might be great.” And there’s some naiveté to that. We see that when he gets there and he has the primary interaction he has is with Dr. Tann [Jocko Sims]. And Dr. Tann says to him, this is not any joke. You would like other people. It is a myth should you think you’re just going to do that by yourself. That’s his first interaction with reality of the situation.

I feel he has the most effective of intentions. But his naiveté is something that he has to learn to corral a bit bit. His real optimism is an amazing part about him and something that I feel is admittedly beautiful in a person. But he has to learn that not every part’s going to be rosy. One thing I like about him is each time he gets knocked down, he keeps getting back up, and he still doesn’t lose his desire to be an excellent man or his knowledge of who he’s and the way he desires to tackle the world. So he’s naive, but he definitely doesn’t let it change who he’s. Possibly he’s got to be a bit bit more careful with who he trusts, but his character stays really strong. I feel that’s an exquisite mark of Charles.

Was that a giant a part of the appeal to you in taking up this role?

There aren’t very many things [on TV] lately where it’s a man attempting to be an excellent man, an excellent father and an excellent husband and an excellent member of his community. Something that appealed to me concerning the whole show is that it’s a extremely high-quality production about nice people. That’s type of rare. I feel privileged to have been capable of be a part of something that tells a pleasant story about people attempting to be good. They’re not perfect people. They make mistakes, but of their heart, they’re decent, decent folk. That’s what appeals to me.

The season ends with the family having to depart Independence, which anyone who has read the books will know. A few of why is outside of their control, nevertheless it also seems they got false guarantees. Going into next season, how does Charles keep his optimistic outlook within the face of all that?

Considered one of the marks of Charles is his ability to maintain getting up when the world knocks him down. He just keeps getting up and going forward, and he’s never going to lose that. What we’ll find in the brand new season is he’s a bit bit more switched on to those who he meets. He’s not as — possibly gullible is the flawed word, but not as easily awed by people. In the primary season, you’ve got Eli James [Michael Hough] and he’s selling the dream. Charles just wants the dream to be true so badly that he believes it.

In season two, we discover him attempting to take the measure of individuals a bit bit more. He absolutely all the time thinks the most effective of individuals, but he’s not going to be as easily manipulated. He’s a bit bit more streetwise after experience of season one and their journey from Kansas to Walnut Grove. He got here from a spot where it was his family [all around him]. There was no must have your guard up. Then he got put out into the large, wide world and he’s realized that, wow, not everyone has the most effective of intentions. But he does imagine that deep down within everyone there’s goodness and there’s truth and there’s honesty. But he’s possibly not going to fall so quickly into believing every part.

What more are you able to say about what people will see within the second season?

We’ve got a fairly classic character in Nellie Olesen [to be played by Willa Dunn] coming into the second season. After which, it’s nice to see the Ingalls living. There’s a certain domesticity to their life within the second season. They’re a bit closer to an even bigger town. The women are going to high school. You’ve got all those wonderful relationships of the women growing up and learning what it’s prefer to be a human and interact with other people relatively than simply their isolation as sisters.

Lastly, I desired to ask you about working with Alice and Skywalker, who give really strong performances as Laura and Mary. What’s it like for you each to play their dad on screen and in addition, together with Crosby, be the adults most frequently on set with them?

I just can’t say enough about Alice and Skywalker. At first, they’re wonderful people. They’re kind, they’re funny, they’re energetic, they’re really intelligent, they usually’re tremendous actresses. Alice’s technical proficiency in acting, and her ability to combine that along with her emotional availability. is incredible in someone of any age, let alone to see it in someone as young as her. The identical with Skywalker — her spontaneity and her energy and life on camera and her ability to play while still being technically proficient and talented and is an actual wonder.

It’s really intimidating playing pretend dad, but they appear to love me. They’re the cool kids and I’m the dorky older bloke, but they appear to think I’m a bit bit cool. No less than I feel so.