A guide to the 'Boots' actors, characters, and gay storylines

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BOOTS.
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Netflix has officially announced that its highly-anticipated Boots series — about a closeted gay man played by Miles Heizer undergoing bootcamp at the U.S. Marine Corps — is set for a release date of October 9, 2025.
In case you didn't know, the queer perspective of Boots runs much deeper than just casting an out gay actor like Heizer (Love, Simon, 13 Reasons Why) to play a gay character. There are several queer people attached to the project — in front of and behind the cameras — and the inspiration for the Netflix series is as gay as it could be.
So buckle up, buttercup! It's time to break down everything you need to know about Netflix's Boots.
Is Netflix's Boots inspired by a true story?; Face Books
Greg Cope White at an event at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles, California; The cover art of The Pink Marine memoir by Greg Cope White.
Yes, Netflix's Boots was inspired by the real-life events from a memoir titled The Pink Marine: One Boy's Journey Through Boot Camp by Greg Cope White. In other words, the author is the real person whose experiences training in the U.S. Marine Corps as a young, closeted gay man inspired the lead character of Boots, Cameron Cope, played by Heizer.
The Pink Marine has a few pages of wonderful endorsements from people like Jane Lynch, David Hyde Pierce, Christopher Atkins, Randy Gardner, Jim Beaver, and Dylan Brody, to name a few. The memoir also has a foreword by the late, great storyteller Norman Lear.
The memoir is a great book for those who enjoy reading, and there are audiobook versions for those who prefer listening to a story.
Miles Heizer plays Cameron Cope.
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Miles Heizer plays the lead character of Boots, Cameron Cope, who's based on the author of The Pink Marine. The out gay actor is best known for his performances on TV shows like Parenthood and 13 Reasons Why, and in films such as Love, Simon and Nerve.
Heizer detailed his coming-out story in an interview, recalling that he was 19 years old at the time. "I had a tragically typical [coming out]. I was scared for a long time, and it took me a while," the actor told L'Officiel. After doing so, "It was an amazing experience and feeling, because it was such a quick turn from being so closeted to so free and being myself…It was fun to be around people who I could actually relate to."
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Max Parker as Sgt. Sullivan
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British actor Max Parker is another standout cast member on Boots in the role of Sgt. Sullivan. He's also been an out gay actor for a few years, though Parker's journey to discussing his sexuality wasn't exactly great.
Best known for his performance on Emmerdale Farm, Parker started dating his costar Kris Mochrie over the years. Given that Parker's character, Luke Posner, was the older brother of Mochrie's character, Lee Posner, U.K. tabloids pounced at the opportunity to terrorize the actors — an experience that Parker discussed with Attitude in 2020.
"There was literally a page of Kylie Minogue, Kim Kardashian, and me and Kris on the same page," Parker told the publication. "I don't know what newspaper it was, but I knew my grandparents read it, so I was like, 'I'm gonna to have to tell them.'"
By the time he came out on his own terms with Attitude, Parker discussed that he struggled to accept his own sexuality, but added that he was now at a place where he felt "really happy" and "comfortable knowing that I am gay."
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To whom it may concern: Parker and Mochrie got engaged in 2022, and recently got married in August 2025.
Congratulations to the newlyweds!
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Angus O'Brien as Hicks
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Prior to being cast as Hicks on Netflix's Boots, Angus O'Brien was known for starring in projects like The Path, Rise, Hightown, and The Kitchen. In 2018, the actor wrote an essay for Teen Vogue discussing his experiences playing a transphobic bully — as a queer person himself — on NBC's Rise.
"This was my third time on a professional set and I had a very clear goal for myself: To believe that I belong there," O'Brien wrote in the essay. "That my career wasn't a fluke anymore, and that my hard work and training as an openly queer actor was finally paying off."
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Other cast members featured on Netflix's Boots.
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Boots
The cast of Boots also includes main-cast actors such as Vera Famiga (Barbara Cope), Liam Oh (Ray McAffey), Cedrick Cooper (Staff Sgt. McKinnon), Ana Ayora (Capt. Fajardo), Dominic Goodman (Nash), Kieron Moore (Slovacek), Nicholas Logan (Sgt. Howitt), Rico Paris (Santos), and Blake Burt (John Bowman), to name a few.
Actors credited as "additional cast" include Brandon Tyler Moore (Cody Bowman), Zach Roerig (Sgt. Knox), Anthony Marble (Harlan), Joy Osmanski (Setsuko), Ivan Hoey Jr. (Benjy), Mo Mason (Logan Gould), Jack Kay (Jones), Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson (Alice), Johnathan Nieves (Ochoa), and Brett Dalton (Sgt. Pitowski).
What are the differences between the Boots TV show and The Pink Marine book?Activists in a protest advocating for the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' in Washington, D.C.
Like any other adaptation of a memoir into a live-action project, there are many differences between Netflix's Boots TV show and The Pink Marine memoir. A lot of them would be spoilers, but there's one significant change worth noting to fans who venture into this story: The decades that each of them took place in. White's memoir, The Pink Marine, recounts the author's experiences at the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1970s. Netflix's TV adaptation, Boots, starts in 1990.
Even though there's a gap of two full decades between them, both stories take place prior to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy introduced in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. The closeted gay character at the center of Boots is taking the same risk as the author of the memoir: It was illegal to be gay in the U.S. armed forces, so LGBTQ+ servicemembers could be asked about their sexualities, or found out, and exposed — getting discharged at any given time.
Here's why fans had to wait so long for Netflix's Boots (F.K.A. The Corps).
Netflix
Max Parker and Miles Heizer on Boots.
Netflix's Boots — originally under the working title The Corps — was greenlit in May 2023 with a cast that already included actors like Miles Heizer and Vera Farmiga. At the time, Deadline also reported that Andy Parker (Tales of the City, Pantheon) and Norman Lear (All in the Family, Good Times) were attached, and that the series was inspired by Greg Cope White's memoir The Pink Marine: One Boy's Journey Through Boot Camp to Manhood.
But here's the tea: Boots reportedly started pre-production on June 7, 2023, and was swiftly impacted by the months-long Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes of 2023 that started just a few weeks later. By the end of that year, Boots executive producer Norman Lear — a legendary figure in Hollywood — passed away at 101 years old.
Greg Cope White shared an emotional statement about the importance of allies during challenging times.
Netflix
Liam Oh and Miles Heizer on Boots.
With the announcement that Boots is coming soon to Netflix, The Pink Marine author Greg Cope White re-shared an article touting the series as "long-delayed" but dedicated the Instagram post to his actual best friend — fictionalized on the show as Ray McAffey, played by actor Liam Oh — and highlighting the importance of having those allies during challenging times.
"Today's Netflix announcement means the world to me but it wouldn't have been possible without my best friend, Dale," the author wrote. "When I was 18, it was illegal for me to enlist in the Marine Corps. Dale put everything on the line to make it happen. He changed the course of my life, he helped me find my courage and write my memoir The Pink Marine."
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Cope added, "Decades later, when we filmed the books adaptation for Netflix, Dale stood beside me again. On set. This series exists because of his belief in me. The Marines taught us 'Semper Fidelis' — always faithful. Dale has lived that for me every single day for the past 52 years. That friendship is the heart of my book and the heart of our show."
premieres Thursday, October 9 on Netflix.
This article originally appeared on Out: A guide to the 'Boots' actors, characters, and gay storylines
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