13 Reasons Why star Miles Heizer enlists in Netflix’s upcoming gay military drama, The Corps
Hit memoir about gay marine to be made into Netflix drama starring Miles Heizer (Earl Gibson III/WireImage via Getty Images)
Netflix has given the green light to The Corps, a comedy-drama based on Greg Cope White’s memoir The Pink Marine.
Set in 1990, during the era of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the show stars 13 Reasons Why‘s Miles Heizer as Cameron Cope, a gay teenager who’s been bullied at school who decides to join the marine corps with his straight best friend, Ray.
The show’s synopsis says: “As these two friends plunge into boot camp, where landmines are both literal and metaphorical, they join a platoon of young men on a harrowing journey of transformation.”
Alongside openly queer actor Heizer, who also appeared in Love, Simon, The Corps will feature Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) as Cameron’s mother, a woman who is “always on the run from the consequences of her actions, but [who] becomes unmoored when her son leaves for the marine corps.”
Vampire Academy‘s Max Parker will play a decorated and closeted sergeant struggling to “keep his own secret hidden” while Liam Oh has been cast as Ray.
The Corps was written by Andy Parker (Tales of the City, Imposters) who is also an executive producer and the showrunner. Peter Hoar (The Last of Us, It’s a Sin) will direct and serve as an executive producer for the first episode.
The 10-episode series is based on former US marine sergeant White’s tale, first published in 2016, about enlisting in the marines at the age of 18, when it was illegal to be openly gay in the military.
Tweeting about the news, White said he was “elated and heartbroken”, as he prepared to go on strike along with other Hollywood writers, who are walking out for the first time in 15 years.
“The news came out today that my memoir is [to be] adapted for a Netflix series,” he wrote. “We are currently in production. As of midnight, I’m on strike alongside the other writers on my show. It’s a day of immeasurable elation and heartbreak.”
