Netflix canceled the well-received, widely viewed dramedy series Boots two months after the Pentagon called the show “woke garbage.”
Though the series about closeted gay Marine recruit Cameron Cope scored a 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and brought in millions of viewers, Netflix declined to bring it back for a second season.
“From what I hear, this was not a straightforward cancellation‚” wrote Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. “The show had internal support, and Netflix held conversations with Boots studio Sony Pictures Television while analyzing long-tail viewership data."
Sony reportedly pushed Netflix for a second season, going so far as extending the options for cast members Miles Heizer, Liam Oh, Kieron Moore, Dominic Goodman, Angus O’Brien, Blake Burt, and Rico Paris.
While no reason was given for the decision, viewers suspect that the Trump administration’s vocal distaste for Boots was a factor.
“Shame on Netflix for cancelling the terrific series BOOTS, based on Greg Cope White’s wonderful memoir THE PINK MARINE, after a single season,” wrote writer Paul Rudnick on X. “The show was critically hailed and consistently appeared in the streamer’s Top Ten shows. A cowardly decision.”
A week after Boots debuted in October, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson slammed the show in a statement that read, “Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos. Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay, or straight.”
She added, “We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix, whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”
Conservatives have long grumbled about Netflix due to its perceived left-wing, “woke” bias. When the streaming giant purchased Warner Bros Discovery, MAGA cried foul because it might mean the Obamas would own a streaming monopoly. (Netflix has a deal with the Obamas’ production company, but the Obamas do not own Netflix.)
President Trump has intimated he would interfere with the deal in a bid to get Warner Bros. Discovery to the more MAGA-friendly Paramount.
Boots was based on Greg Cope White’s memoir The Pink Marine and followed a closeted Marine in 1990. After the Pentagon slammed it, the show’s viewership doubled to 9.4 million viewers in its second week. It spent four weeks in Netflix’s Top 10.
Before the series was canceled, lead actor Miles Heizer told Decider, “I would do literally anything for a Season 2.”
