Netflix Pulls the Plug on Hit Series With a 90% Rotten Tomatoes Score After Just One Season

Netflix just pulled the plug on a well-liked military dramedy that looked like it had a real shot at sticking around. If you were into 'Boots' or had it on your to-watch list, here is what happened and why it is a little head-scratchy.

What got canceled

'Boots' is the basic training coming-of-age series from creator/showrunner Andy Parker, adapted from Greg Cope White's memoir 'The Pink Marine.' It stars Miles Heizer (yep, the '13 Reasons Why' alum), with a core ensemble that also includes Liam Oh, Kieron Moore, Dominic Goodman, Angus O'Brien, Blake Burt, Rico Paris, and Vera Farmiga.

The decision

Netflix is not ordering a Season 2. The cancellation landed roughly two months after Season 1 premiered on October 9, 2025.

Deadline called the decision "not straightforward," noting the show "delivered respectable ratings and made noise in popular culture" and even had "internal support."

Translation: this was not a simple underperformer they quietly tossed. Netflix and producer Sony Pictures Television apparently spent time combing through the long-tail numbers before making the call.

How the show actually performed

In its debut week, 'Boots' logged 4.7 million views, then doubled to 9.4 million the following week. Critics and audiences were into it: Rotten Tomatoes shows a 90% score for both critics and viewers, while Metacritic has a 73 metascore and a 6.4 user score. That is solid-to-strong by any normal metric.

The contract chess moves

Here is where it gets a little inside the machine. Four months before this cancellation, Sony Pictures Television extended the options for several key cast members before their August 30 deadline and ahead of the show even premiering. Extensions went to Miles Heizer, Liam Oh, Kieron Moore, Dominic Goodman, Angus O'Brien, Blake Burt, and Rico Paris. Not everyone was extended. Vera Farmiga had a one-year deal with no extension option on the table, but the creative team was actively mapping out ways to keep her character in play for a potential Season 2 anyway.

Production timeline (with a curveball)

• May 2023: Netflix officially greenlights the series, with the legendary Norman Lear aboard as one of the executive producers and showrunners.
• Mid-2023: Production starts, then halts because of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.
• December 2023: Lear passes away.
• March 2024: Production resumes.
• August 2024: Filming wraps.
• October 9, 2025: Season 1 premieres.
• About two months later: Netflix cancels the show.

The weird footnote

One report claimed the show drew backlash from conservatives and the Pentagon during the Trump administration. That is... puzzling, since 'Boots' did not premiere until 2025. The most charitable read is that the friction traces back to the memoir's subject matter or early development chatter during that era, not the finished Netflix series itself. Either way, the controversy note does not line up neatly with the release timeline.

So why end it?

There is no single smoking gun here. For a show with respectable viewership, strong reviews, and apparent internal fans at the streamer, this feels like one of those classic streaming-era coin flips where long-tail data, cost, and future risk all meet in a spreadsheet and the math says 'nope.' It happens more often than it should, and this one stings a bit extra because the audience and critics were already on board.