Dominic Goodman and Cedrick Cooper are taking in all of the love from their new Netflix series, Boots.
Inspired by a real story, the series is set in the ’90s and follows a young gay man who follows his best friend into the Marines. However, it’s still the time of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which means no one can know that he’s gay.
Goodman and Cooper talked with Blavity’s Shadow and Act about seeing how beloved the series has quickly become.
“I’m just happy, you know, people are taking it in and having such a good reception of it,” said Goodman, who plays Nash, one of the Marine recruits. “There’s so many different things that are in this show for people to enjoy and so many different audiences. So I’m glad that they’ve all found an audience for almost every character. It’s been great.”
“For me, it’s been a process, you know? To be in a collaboration with a bunch of different storytellers and seeing people react to what they experience and what they haven’t experienced,” added Cooper.
“It took us quite some time to create and finish this show. So I think the gift alone is just, the fact that it’s public is a lot for us, because we knew exactly what it took to actually get to the finish line.”
Cooper and Goodman talked about the amount of training and diet changes it took to get in military shape. Cooper, in particular, had to also learn the ins and outs of being a drill sergeant for his role, Staff Sgt. McKinnon. All of the training and mental fortitude were “worth every freaking step,” according to Cooper.
“I know I speak for Dom too, when I say it was [worth it] to see [the series] and see how it’s being taken and digested,” he said. “It was worth every single day on that set.”
Watch the full interview with Cooper and Goodman below. Boots Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.