“Anne of Green Gables” is having something of a pop culture renaissance — more than a century since it was first published.

On Thanksgiving night, PBS premieres a new movie version of the classic tale of a spunky orphan, starring Martin Sheen (the first of three planned installments). Netflix has picked up its own series adaptation, “Anne,” due next year from the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) and “Breaking Bad” writer Moira Walley-Beckett. And, just this week, a new audiobook version of the 1908 L.M. Montgomery novel was released (Rachel McAdams narrates).

“[Anne] is so disarming and so positive and so inspired that she ignites all of those feelings and emotions in us, and that’s why she still lives,” Sheen, 76, says of the story’s enduring legacy. “Particularly today, when children are focused with their head down on their computers … Anne comes right in the middle of all that and wakes us up and reminds us that it’s personal contact that makes the difference.”

The two-hour movie (Thursday at 8 p.m.) retells the story of a precocious 11-year-old orphan, Anne Shirley (Ella Ballentine), who unexpectedly comes to live with farmer Matthew Cuthbert (Sheen, “The West Wing”) and his uptight sister Marilla (Sara Botsford) on scenic Prince Edward Island in Canada. Young Anne’s arrival (the older couple were expecting to adopt a hardy boy) throws their life for a loop, with the conservative Marilla trying to rein in the adventurous girl, while Matthew develops a soft spot for her right away.

“Dear old Matthew is a lifelong bachelor. He’s solid in his ways and he’s very shy and he’s a pretty bright man but he’s not showy,” Sheen says. “This little girl comes along, and it’s not an accident that she’s given red hair because she’s like on fire. And anyone that’s on fire lights the way.

“This old guy and his sister live in this isolated community, have grown used to their lives and each other, but they’ve also grown kind of blind,” he says, “and they don’t realize how blind they are until this light comes along — and they suddenly wake up and realize it’s not too late to have a family.”

For the story’s period setting, “Anne of Green Gables” filmed at an 80-acre heritage park in Milton, Ontario, that recreates rural 19th-century living down to the dirt roads and horse-drawn plows. Sheen returned from shooting parts two and three (which will premiere in 2017 and 2018) there a few weeks ago, and is planning to spend Thanksgiving at home with his wife, Janet, and as many of his children (sons Charlie, Emilio, Ramon; daughter Renee) and grandchildren that can make it.

He credits the “Anne of Green Gables” message of compassion as an apt story for Thanksgiving, a holiday that this year has him feeling especially reflective since recovering from quadruple-bypass surgery last December.

“I had a very difficult year, health-wise and I have such gratitude that I’m expressing it daily and endlessly,” he says. “I give thanks and praise that I’m still up and around and looking healthy.

“Every day is Thanksgiving.”