In many ways, 2025 was a dumpster fire. Our political landscape was a nightmare, we lost several Hollywood greats, and even the Pantone color of the year was a mundane, soulless shade of… white.
We did manage to eke out a few nice moments, though. It was a great year for gay television, for one thing: Breakout shows like Boots and Heated Rivalry put LGBTQ+ stories front and center on major streamers, proving for the umpteenth time that gay characters can attract large and global audiences. Let’s celebrate that.
And yet, in a very 2025 move, Netflix announced yesterday that it is not renewing Boots for a second season. Pardon? The series—which follows a young gay man (Miles Heizer) who joins the United States Marine Corps in the 1990s—gained critical acclaim upon release earlier this year, and its leading stars (including Liam Oh and Jack Cameron Kay) were instantly catapulted to heartthrob status.
“I’m sad about it,” said Kay in a TikTok. “What makes me the most sad is reading everyone’s messages. Everyone in my DMs is absolutely shocked.”
Fans of Boots are angry about the cancellation—but not totally surprised. In the comments section of Kay’s post, one user wrote, “I’m so tired of Netflix taking on queer shows, giving it [sic] minimal support, it performing well despite that lack of support, and then cancelling it.” It seems to be a vicious cycle in Hollywood: a recent report from Glaad revealed that some 41% of LGBTQ+ characters on TV this year would not be returning “due to series cancellations, endings, or limited series format.”
Netflix’s decision to scrap Boots comes at a moment when HBO’s Heated Rivalry—a steamy gay love story between two rival hockey players, starring Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams—heats up TV screens. The Canadian series, which has increased its viewership by nearly 400 percent since premiering last month, has already been green-lit for a second season. That fact begs the question: Are we really incapable of having two popular gay TV shows on at once? Can’t we have sexy army men and sexy hockey players?
Of course, there are plenty of shows with gay characters on right now, from I Love LA to Overcompensating and even Stranger Things. But so few of them actually center gay storylines and themes the way Boots and Heated Rivalry did this year. And besides, both were just hot. Those shirtless shaving moments in Boots? Or that Heated Rivalry tuna melt scene? Depictions of gay sex—even foreplay—remain all too rare in mainstream TV.
Perhaps in 2026 we will finally enter a TV landscape where we can have not one, but two—hell, even three, dream big!—shows that treat gay characters like leading stars, and succeed in such a way that makes canceling them unthinkable. For now, though, let’s pour one out for Boots, and give it a well-earned rewatch over the holiday break. Its steamy, camo-wearing, shaved-head hunks deserved better.
