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Netflix ‘Little House On The Prairie’ Boss On Fever Flashbacks, ‘Anne of Green Gables’

Published

3 hours ago

July 11, 2026

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for the fourth episode of Netflix‘s ‘Little House on the Prairie.’

Little House on the Prairie showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine has previous experience when it comes to the genre elements of dreams and flashbacks.

In the fourth episode of Netflix’s adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, fever descends upon the residents of Independence, Kansas, which readers learned was malaria transferred by mosquitoes in the “Fever ‘N’ Ague” chapter in Wilders’ novel of the same name.

Jocko Sims as Dr. George Tann in 'Little House on the Prairie' — Jocko Sims as Dr. George Tann in ‘Little House on the Prairie’

Eric Zachanowich/Netflix

“When you’re reading that as a kid, you think, ‘Oh my god, that’s so scary.’ She is so little, and her whole family is depending on her. We definitely wanted to portray that from the book, but obviously being sick in bed is not a story,” the showrunner said.

Thus, the writer and executive producer wove in hallucinations disguised as flashbacks to Ma and Pa’s past before they took their daughters west in a daring and risky venture in the eyes of their family members. Pa (Luke Bracey) sees his younger brother George (Connor Paton), who ran away to fight in the Civil War, and Ma (Crosby Fitzgerald) sees her sister Eliza (Catherine Bérubé) who didn’t agree with her leaving with Charles.

“I have worked on lots of shows that have done flashbacks and wanted to be able to do something different, but have the same concept. So I thought fever dreams would be really fun, because now there’s stakes. Now we’re getting the story of the reasons they left Wisconsin under those circumstances, and why no one came with them,” Sonnenshine said. “We’ve been dropping little bread crumbs, and now we get to hear the story of what happened to George, and we also get to hear the story of why Caroline’s sister would write a letter like that in episode three, alluding to the fact that that Caroline was a little unsure about coming at some point. All of a sudden, we had a compelling story narrative for malaria.”

Megan Follows as Grandma Ingalls in Netflix's 'Little House on the Prairie' — Megan Follows as Grandma Ingalls in Netflix’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’

Courtesy of Netflix

Alice Halsey’s Laura doesn’t get the fever right away, possibly thanks to the coffee she drinks with Pa, so she is “the last one standing” doing the chores while her parents and sister Mary remain burning up and bedridden. She has visions of her grandmother (Megan Follows), who is back in Wisconsin in the Big Woods, which signal she has finally caught the bug. Wilder’s prequel of sorts Little House in the Big Woods is alluded to throughout Season 1.

“It’s sort of a genre element. I’ve worked in genre, so some of those things work their way into dream sequences,” she said. “It was actually very similar to my last show, I also did a big f dream sequence episode in Archive 81 and I was like, ‘Wow, I clearly have a thing.’”

Sonnenshine likened the fever outbreak to the early stages of the COVID pandemic when the world did not know how to fight the disease. Eventually, information was gathered to help stop the spread, but in the initial weeks and months, that knowledge had not yet become clear. Even the chapter in the book has hindsight knowledge applied, and the show makes sure to emphasize that the way the illness spread wasn’t known when Emily Henderson (Barrett Doss) tells Caleb (Kowen Cadorath).

L-R: Caleb (Kowen Cadorath) & Emily Henderson (Barrett Doss)

Netflix

“One of the things that is so interesting is, we know so much now, and they just didn’t know, and that is very, like [the COVID] pandemic, right? We were like, ‘Ah, should we scrub down all our groceries?’ That was a very modern thing that we experienced that we had not really experienced before, and malaria was like that, and that chapter in the book is so scary when you’re a kid,” Sonnenshine told Deadline.

Some readers might remember that Mary (portrayed by Skywalker Hughes in the show) does eventually go blind in the first chapter of On the Shores of Silver Lake due to Scarlett fever. The showrunner didn’t share much when asked if this episode could be seen as a foreshadowing to that event later on, but she did stress the juxtaposition of Gemma James (Mary Holland) hoarding quinine needed to cure the fever versus the community mentality of helping others. Dr. Tann (Jocko Sims), whose real-life likeness Sonnenshine spoke about in a panel discussion moderated by Deadline, saved the day with the medicine eventually, aided by Lacey Aubert (Rebecca Amzallag) who knew Mr. Edwards (Warren Christie) had stockpiled some of his own.

Rebecca Amzallag as Lacey in 'Little House on the Prairie' — Rebecca Amzallag as Lacey in ‘Little House on the Prairie’

Eric Zachanowich/Netflix

“We just went through this in a pandemic where people are hoarding supplies and saying ‘I have to protect my family,’ and, let’s just face it, there’s a guy out there who’s basically said the same thing, ‘You got to protect your family first,’ and don’t worry about your community,” she said. “Some people, that is their instinct, and a lot of other people don’t have that instinct. A lot of people have the instinct that we have to help each other and care. I think there’s more people that think that. Gemma, in her mind, has a really good reason for not giving up that quinine, because what if she needs it, and yet there are people dying, so nothing has changed.”

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The Odyssey: Christopher Nolan Addresses Backlash, Modern Dialogue

Published

3 hours ago

July 11, 2026

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Christopher Nolan says the online conversation surrounding The Odyssey is ultimately “irrelevant.”

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the Oscar-winning filmmaker responded to criticism surrounding his adaptation of Homer’s epic, which has sparked online debate over some of its casting choices and the use of American accents and modern dialogue in its trailers.

“Comes with the territory,” Nolan told the publication. “But look, these conversations that happen before people see the film — they’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet.”

The director went on to compare the early reaction to The Odyssey with his experience of the beloved Dark Knight trilogy.

“I spent 10 years of my life dealing with Batman,” the 55-year-old said. “When I came on to Batman Begins, writers and artists had been working on this beloved character for almost 65 years, and a lot of freighted thoughts were out there about what he represents. And what I learnt over my time on that trilogy is you can’t worry about any of that at all. What you have to do is honour the original text by interpreting it in the strongest way you personally can.”

Nolan recalled facing similar skepticism before The Dark Knight, particularly after the late Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker. At the time, Ledger was known for rom-com films such as 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight’s Tale, and some fans questioned the casting. Ledger ultimately won a posthumous Academy Award for best supporting actor for his performance.

“In the end, fans of the property — even when we were doing something that was not what they would have done — enjoyed the sincerity of the attempt to put as good a version of it on screen as we could,” Nolan added.

“So, when it comes to The Odyssey, all I can do is make the best film I possibly can in the most sincere way. It’s very different from how anyone else would do it, but that’s what adaptation is.”

Nolan has also addressed The Odyssey’s use of modern dialogue.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, the filmmaker said the decision was intended to make Homer’s story feel more fresh to modern audiences.

“When you look at the ancient world, people tend to view the ancient world in weird ways and there’s a lot of cultural prejudice — elevating it just because it’s old,” he said. “When you go to the poem, what you find is something that’s really earthy, grounded and accessible. So, for me, in building the world of the film, what I talk to all the actors about is, I want to center it on that and make it feel very fresh for modern audiences and do away with some of those assumptions.”

Following the film’s casting announcement, conservative commentator Matt Walsh criticized Lupita Nyong’o’s casting as Helen of Troy in posts on X, with Elon Musk replied to one of Walsh’s posts, agreeing. Musk also interacted with posts mocking Elliot Page’s casting as Sinon.

The epic stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, whose long journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War reunites him with his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and son, Telemachus (Tom Holland). The cast also includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Travis Scott, Charlize Theron and more.

The Odyssey arrives in theaters July 17.

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Barbara Ling Dead: ‘Michael’ Production Designer Was 73

Published

5 hours ago

July 11, 2026

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Barbara Ling, the production designer behind Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) and Michael (2026), has died. She was 73.

The Academy Award winner died on Thursday in Santa Barbara after she was diagnosed with cancer, a WME spokesperson announced.

Born in August 1952, Ling got her start in Hollywood as a lighting designer on the 1981 comedy special The Pee-Wee Herman Show, before taking on production design with David Byrne’s True Stories (1986).

Ling found her stride as a production designer in the ’80s and ’90s, working on films like Less Than Zero (1987), The Doors (1991), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), on which she also served as an associate producer, Batman Forever (1995), Batman & Robin (1997), Hearts in Atlantis (2001), No Reservations (2007) and A Man Called Otto (2022).

Along with set decorator Nancy Haigh, Ling won the Best Production Design Oscar for their work on Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, also earning her an Art Directors Guild Award and a Critics’ Choice Award, as well as BAFTA and Satellite Award nominations.

Most recently, Ling worked on director Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, which has grossed nearly $1B worldwide since its release in April.

The Hollywood Reporter was first to break the news of Ling’s death.

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Aung Phyoe’s ‘Fruit Gathering’ Wins The Crystal Globe At Karlovy Vary

Published

5 hours ago

July 11, 2026

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The 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival came to an end tonight after its starriest event for quite some time, doling out the famous Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema to the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Juliette Binoche, and cinematographer Robert Richardson. Festival President’s Awards went to Jesse Eisenberg, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Magda Vášáryová and Jeffrey Wright, though it remains unclear whether the Bacon family — Kevin, wife Kyra Sedgwick and son Travis — got anything for the mantelpiece in return from their visit to the picturesque Czech spa town with their self-explanatory horror-comedy Family Movie.

Taking the top prize this year was the Myanmar-set drama Fruit Gathering (Thit-thee Khu) by Aung Phyoe, which, according to the jury, “begins as a lush and meditative portrait of work and friendship before morphing, unexpectedly and organically, into a harrowing drama of obsession and queer desire.”

The full list of winners and juries is below…

CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION

CRYSTAL GLOBE JURY
Justin Chang
Amanda Nell Eu
Pavel Rejholec
Nadia Turincev
Eskil Vogt

GRAND PRIX
The financial award ($25,000) is shared equally by the director and producers of the award-winning film.

Fruit Gathering (Thit-thee Khu)
Directed by Aung Phyoe
Myanmar, Czech Republic, France, 2026

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
The financial award ($15,000) is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
The Guest (Gæsten)
Directed by Mads Mengel
Denmark, 2026

BEST DIRECTOR AWARD
Mads Mengel for The Guest (Gæsten)
Denmark, 2026

BEST ACTRESS AWARD
Anna Schinz for A Happy Family
Directed by Jan-Eric Mack
Switzerland, 2026

BEST ACTOR AWARD
Ghassan Saad for Pipes
Directed by Karim Kassem
Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 2025

PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD
Bára: Diary of a Rockstar
Directed by Helena Třeštíková
Czech Republic, 2026

PROXIMA COMPETITION

PROXIMA JURY
Estrella Araiza
Dirk Decker
Jakub Felcman
Devika Girish
Marija Kavtaradze

PROXIMA GRAND PRIX
The financial award ($15,000) is shared equally by the director and producers of the award-winning film.
Lover, Not a Fighter (Milovník, nie bojovník)
Directed by Martina Buchelová
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2026

PROXIMA SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
The financial award ($10,000) is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
Incinerator (Shokyakuro)
Directed by Shuntaro Uchida
Japan, 2026

PROXIMA BEST DIRECTOR AWARD
Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis for A Whole Person Almost (Enas olokliros anthropos schedon)
Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania, 2025

PROXIMA SPECIAL MENTION
33 Steps(33 krokov)
Directed by Anna Domček, Šimon Domček
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2026

NON-STATUTORY AWARDS

THE ECUMENICAL JURY
Hans-Martin Gutmann
Lukáš Jirsa
Valérie de Marnhac

GRAND PRIZE OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY
The Lion at My Back
Directed by Tonia Mishiali
Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece, 2026

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL JURY
Sophie Jansen
Nataša Jurčová Findrová
Grégory Le Perff

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD
3 Weeks After (3 nedelje posle)
Directed by Miroslav Terzić
Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg, 2026

FIPRESCI JURY
Wellington Almeida
Laura Arias
Shiva Fouladi
Isabel Jacobs
Marita Nyrhinen
Giuseppe Sedia

THE FIPRESCI AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM IN THE CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION
Only Beautiful Things to Look At (Prameň)
Directed by Ivan Ostrochovský
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary, 2026

THE FIPRESCI AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM IN THE PROXIMA COMPETITION
Petty Thieves (Sitni lopovi)
Directed by Mate Ugrin
Croatia, France, Germany, Serbia, 2026