Ninety percent of critics liked it. Netflix canceled it anyway.
Boots, a military comedy drama set in the Marine Corps of 1990, premiered on Netflix on 9 October 2025 and got a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 40 critic reviews, plus 73 out of 100 on Metacritic. Netflix canceled it after one season on 12 December 2025.
The show follows Cameron Cope, a closeted gay teenager from Louisiana played by Miles Heizer, who enlists with his straight best friend Ray McAffey (Liam Oh). It is 1990, and the military excludes gay people. Their drill instructor, Sergeant Sullivan (Max Parker), takes a special interest in Cope. Vera Farmiga, Ana Ayora, Blake Burt, Cedrick Cooper, Dominic Goodman, Nicholas Logan, Kieron Moore, Angus O’Brien and Rico Paris round out the cast.
Praise and pushback
Kelly Lawler of USA Today called it “a sweet and funny new dramedy” and “the hidden gem TV show of the year.” Nandini Balial of RogerEbert.com saw it differently, writing that it is “an oversimplification of what military life was and is actually like for queer service members, despite the creators’ best intentions.”
The politics got louder. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was openly critical, and one of his spokespersons branded the series “woke garbage.” Viewership doubled after the remarks.
From memoir to screen
Andy Parker created the series, adapting the 2016 memoir The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White, who also writes on the show and is an executive producer. The book is set in 1979, and White lived in Texas, not Louisiana, so the show moves both the year and the place. Jennifer Cecil is co-showrunner. Norman Lear, who died in December 2023 at 101, executive produced through Act III Productions; Boots was his last show. Sony Pictures Television is the studio.
Netflix ordered the series in May 2023. Production began that summer and stopped after one week because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming resumed in March 2024 and wrapped in August 2024, three months before the presidential election.
Sources
- Boots (TV series) – Wikipedia
- Netflix’s Long-Delayed ‘The Pink Marine’ Series Adaptation ‘Boots’, Produced By Norman Lear, Gets Premiere Date
