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[Thisstorycontainsspoilersfrom[ThisstorycontainsspoilersfromBoys Season 5, Episode 4, “King of Hell.”]
Erin Moriarty can’t bring herself to watch Boys“The final season. Of course, she loves the show and her iconic role as Annie “Starlight” January, but she’s not ready to revisit such a stressful time in her life.
In June of 2025, Moriarty announced her final diagnosis of Graves’ disease. At that point, it had been six months since filming Boys Season 5, and her doctor’s conclusion immediately explained why she wasn’t feeling like herself throughout production. Her various symptoms, including chronic fatigue and nausea, quickly fell by the wayside thanks to prompt treatment, and she finally felt human again in time for the series finale.
“It resulted in me not being as present for Annie during this final season as I had hoped, and that was very hurtful for me. I thought, ‘ Oh my God, you have failed Annie and our audience“Moriarty says Hollywood Reporter. “It was like I was offline for the first six or seven episodes, and then back online. I finally felt present at the end of Season 5.”
Moriarty also offers her thoughts on the fourth episode of season five, titled “King of Hell.”
Traumatized by Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) recent death, Annie decides to leave her friend and allies behind to track down her estranged father, Rick (Tim Daly). Annie’s mother, Donna (Ann Cusack), originally claimed that Rick withdrew from them due to bad investments. But in the Season 1 finale, Annie exposes that lie after confronting her mother about her superpowers being created in a lab, and not by God, as she was led to believe. Still not entirely clean, Donna insisted that Rick left after regretting their decision to inject Annie with the superhero serum known as Compound V. Annie then speculated at the time that her father might not want to lie about the nature of her powers.
Annie’s theory is proven correct when Rick confirms that Donna’s pious fraud prompted him to leave. He also reveals that he proudly tracks Annie/Starlight’s accomplishments from afar and urges her not to turn her back on the people she loves like he did.
“It really motivates her and motivates her to find herself and her heroism for the rest of the season. If she had previously gone to her father to get this information, it would have sparked more resentment toward her mother,” Moriarty says. Hollywood Reporter. “That would have negated her ability to move forward with her story. But now she says, ‘You know what?’ My mother did her best. It’s a testament to Annie’s emotional maturity at this point.
As for the upcoming finale of director Eric Kripke’s satirical superhero series, which premieres May 20, Moriarty believes it will leave audiences both satisfied and disappointed.
“It’s a heartbreaking episode. It’s not overtly satirical. When I read the ending as a script, it was my favorite episode of the season, as it should be,” Moriarty shares. “I think the audience will be very satisfied with the ending. I never like to make a firm prediction like that, and I never have, but I say it now because I have a lot of excitement and confidence in it.”
Below, during a conversation with THRMoriarty also discusses Annie’s new bad habit she recommended between seasons, before revisiting the show’s collective anxiety surrounding the season four finale.
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You probably shed most of your tears during production, but we’re halfway there now Boys‘Last season, what are your feelings at this moment?
It’s very bittersweet. I sound like a broken record, because this is the term we all keep coming back to, but there are no words enough for this moment in time. The mourning and saying goodbye to my character happened when season 5 ended. But now that the world is watching our final season, I feel a very acute sense of intense gratitude. Sincere gratitude makes me emotional, it all still seems surreal to me. I still feel like I was auditioning for this role yesterday.
When we were filming Season 5, I was in a pre-mourning phase about the show coming to an end. It was such an emotionally pregnant period of time that I… Try To balance my sense of pre-mourning with a level of presence that wasn’t there in previous seasons.
Annie is tired of the battle this season. She even has a vaping habit now. She was worried about what Huey would think of her actions during the year he had been away. How much detail did you do? [showrunner] Is Eric Kripke giving you information about the missing time period between seasons 4 and 5?
I’m very lucky that Eric Kripke has given me so much. Between classes, we would always sit down and discuss what had happened. It was really important because no season started immediately after the previous one ended. A significant amount of time has passed between seasons, so meeting with Eric has become an integral part of the preparation process for each season.
The great thing about Eric is that he tells us circumstantial what happened, but he also allows for collaboration at that point. “I want Annie to develop a nervous habit that will allow her to have little moments of escape during scenes,” I told him. She is still processing the trauma of previous seasons, but what happened between seasons four and five was more difficult for her to comprehend. There have been too many casualties as a result of Starlighter’s move, and she’s at her most stressful breaking point.
I even consider it suicidal. She sees the only redemptive way for her to become a hero is to sacrifice herself in honor of the victims caused by the Starlighter Movement. So I wanted there to be this new flavor for Annie, and I wanted her to pick up on behavior that reflected the stress she was experiencing now. I’ve always tried to make sure that Annie, despite being a superhero, remains a developed human. And those moments of stress represented by vaping and other things seemed very human to me.
I watched your interview with David DastmalchianIt seems that you went through a lot during the last season in terms of health. I don’t mean to belittle Graves’ illness, but did it end up serving the character’s fatigue at all?
I wish I could say it happened. I have been open about this, and I will continue to be open about this. I have no hesitation about it. It is important for me to be vocal about autoimmune diseases. I started feeling very ill, and even though I come from a family of doctors, no one thought to say to me, “Go get your levels tested.” This resulted in Annie not being as present during this final season as I had hoped, and that was very painful for me. It was like I was offline for the first six or seven episodes, and then I came back online. I finally felt present at the end of season five.
I wish I could have used it to enhance or connect with her fatigue, but to be honest, I was on set every day really struggling to get through it all. I was very lucky to be surrounded by a really supportive cast and crew, but it was really scary at times. For example, I’ve watched every season of Boys. I love this show so much. But I’m not watching the final season simply because it’s important to me at this moment to put my mental health above all other things.
It wasn’t until episode seven that I was able to get over the physical and mental toll this disease took on me. It’s a testament to how profoundly impactful autoimmune diseases are, and I don’t think people realize it to the degree they could be. So I wish I could say it served the character, but unfortunately, it was about getting through each day. The psychological damage he caused me, I would be able to use it in the future, but I couldn’t while it was happening at the same time. Unfortunately no.
Thank you for your honesty. Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) near death in episode three traumatizes Annie so much that she finally tracks down her estranged father (Rick Tim Dallis) after all these years. Her mother (Donna, played by Anne Cusack) originally told her that Her father left them due to bad investments, but she later revealed that he regretted their decision to inject Annie with Compound V. He then explained in episode four that he actually left in protest of her mother’s belief that Annie was the chosen one. How do you think this revelation affects her relationship with her mother, if at all?
This is an interesting question. Annie’s relationship with her mother is one that many people can relate to. Every parent is a flawed parent. But at this time, Annie was able to look at things with a little perspective. She had a tremendous distance from Donna, and I think she’s reached enough emotional maturity where that won’t fuel any more resentment toward her. This episode was really about her relationship with her father. It was about what she needed from her father and not about feeling more resentment towards her mother.
Annie’s father gave her exactly what she needed in this episode to keep going without creating more toxicity with her mother. It really motivates her and motivates her to find herself and her heroism for the rest of the season. There is a division alignment with these characters at this moment in time. If she had previously gone to her father for this information, it would have created more resentment toward her mother, and would have hurt her and invalidated her ability to move forward with her story. She was going to confront her mother about how she lied to her. But now she says, “You know what? My mom did her best.” It’s a testament to Anne’s emotional maturity at this point.
The series finale is still under lock and key. Did you allow yourself to wonder how the audience might receive it?
I did it because I’m excited for the audience to see the ending. When I read the final script, it was my favorite episode of the season, as it should be. The showrunner and our writers are very aware of the fact that the ending is an integral part of this entire story. They have worked relentlessly hard to honor what they believe our audience will ultimately want. This is what we were all working for, and that’s why we were able to end the show with integrity. I really think the writers did that. I’m just excited for the fans to see it. I think the audience will be very satisfied with the ending. I never like to make a firm prediction like that, and I never have, but I say it now because I have a lot of excitement and confidence in it.
Is it shocking in Boys‘Patented fashion?’
shock? Yes, but by the time episode 8 airs, there will be so many shocking moments that I think it will be much more satisfying and sad. Heartbreaking would be the word I would use. At that point, the audience will have been greatly saddened by the many characters who were lost along the way. Our showrunner said it would happen, so it’s not a spoiler.
It’s a heartbreaking episode. It’s not overtly sarcastic. But it’s still an episode that brings to mind the finality of the show and the characters we’re all so emotionally invested in, both good and bad. The point of the show is that these characters are accurate. They’re not black and white. So losing characters that you thought you weren’t rooting for can suddenly be emotional because no one is completely bad and no one is completely good on this show.
Get a cast of traditional superheroes Projects have privately expressed to you that they want their show or movie to do dangerous things that… Boys Is it every episode?
They have. (He laughs.) They also came to me and said they wanted the catharsis we had Boys Actors are lucky to be a part when it comes to tackling topical issues. There’s a lot of, pardon my language, shit going on in the world, and whether it’s social commentary or political commentary, I know a lot of us have benefited from the cathartic element of being part of a show that doesn’t ignore that stuff. So other actors will come up to me in the first place and say, “I wish I was on a show that wasn’t just made for this type of movie, but also deals with things that we all notice and feel uncomfortable about.”
Sometimes, the show responds to events that have already happened, and other times, it predicts what will happen. Is there an example of real-world importance that stands out above the rest?
Yes, there was something about the Season 4 finale that eerily paralleled the real world and was very relatable to myself. I played two characters in that episode: Annie and the mutant. And my alter ego is trying to assassinate the president-elect [Jim Beaver’s Robert Singer]. The episode was originally titled “Assassination Run”, but we had to rename the episode because it was scheduled to air five days after [July 13, 2024] Assassination attempt against Trump. We shot the episode a year before it was released [on July 18, 2024].
We thought about not airing that episode for my safety. We didn’t know if I would receive death threats. I had to do media training for that episode. But this strange alignment and proximity in time was crazy. Of course, no one could have expected this. I remember sitting at my friend’s house and being a little scared waiting for the episode to air.
However, Amazon and my display manager were very respectful. We all talked on the phone about it, and I was ready to air the episode. But in terms of parallelism to the outside world, I could never have imagined anything more frighteningly consistent.
Annie’s overall arc is still unfolding, but how would you sum up your own story from when she first stepped on set? Have you been able to wrap your head around your entire experience this way yet?
First and foremost, I am extremely grateful. This is the prevailing feeling. I know I’ve grown and developed with this show. I have learned a lot, both personally and professionally, that I will take with me forever. But it will take a few years to process the entire experience in my mind and see how much the show affected me and how much I’ve grown from it.
There’s this meta element to Starlight. When she joined the Seven, people on the street suddenly called her name. At the same time, I began to be known as Starlight as well. A lot of what Annie went through strangely paralleled my own life. This character is known for her purity, and as I got older and grew with the character, people also expected me to retain that initial pure element for Annie. So we both matured over time.
I learned a lot from her constantly questioning whether or not she was doing a good job. I’ve learned that as long as you’re questioning yourself and trying to do good, then you’re a good person. As a type A or type A person, I was constantly wondering if I was doing enough for this character and audience. When I got sick during the last season, I thought, Oh my God, you have failed Annie and our audience.
So playing Annie wondering whether or not she’s doing a good job is a testament to the fact that she’s doing a good job, and it was healing for me and my own questions. If I can say that Annie is good just by trying to do good in every situation she gets into, then I have done my best by constantly trying to do my best for the character and the audience. So I no longer wondered if I had done something right by Annie and the audience, which was my ultimate goal.
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Boys Season 5 is currently streaming new episodes every Wednesday on Amazon Prime Video.
