Erin Moriarty, star of The Boys, opens up about health struggles during season five and promises a “heartbreaking” ending
[This report contains spoilers for season five of The Boys, episode four titled “King of Hell.”]
According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, Erin Moriarty says she cannot bring herself to watch the final season of The Boys. While she deeply loves the series and her iconic role as Annie “Starlight” January, she is not emotionally ready to revisit what she describes as a difficult period in her life.
In June 2025, Moriarty publicly revealed that she had been diagnosed with Graves’ disease. At the time, she had already completed six months of filming for season five, and her diagnosis helped explain why she had not been feeling well during production. Her symptoms—including chronic fatigue and nausea—improved thanks to prompt treatment, and she eventually felt fully recovered by the time the final episodes were filmed.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Moriarty said: “It made me not be able to be as present in this final season as I wanted to be, and that was really painful. I kept thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’m letting Annie down, I’m letting our audience down.’ It felt like I was offline for six or seven episodes and then I came back online. I ultimately felt fully present again toward the end of season five.”
Moriarty also discussed episode four of the season, titled “King of Hell.” In it, Annie—shaken by Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) latest encounter with death—decides to leave her boyfriend and allies in order to search for her father, Rick (Tim Daly).
Throughout the series, Annie’s mother (Donna) had claimed that Rick abandoned the family, but Annie discovered in the season one finale that this was a lie. In episode four, Rick confirms that Donna’s deception drove him away. He also reveals that he has proudly followed Annie/Starlight’s achievements from afar and urges her not to turn her back on her loved ones as he once did.
Moriarty explained: “He really motivates Annie to find herself and her heroism for the rest of the season. If she had gone to her father earlier with this information, it would have only fueled more anger toward her mother. But now she’s saying, ‘You know what? Mom did the best she could.’ It’s a sign of Annie’s emotional maturity at this point.”
Regarding the series finale airing on May 20, Moriarty believes audiences will be both satisfied and heartbroken. “It’s a devastating episode. The ending is not cynically bleak. When I read the finale script, it was my favorite episode of the season. I think audiences will be very satisfied with it. I don’t like making definitive predictions, but I feel confident and excited enough to say that.”
She concluded: “It’s very bittersweet. There are no words for this moment. Grieving and saying goodbye to my character happened when we finished filming season five. But now that the world is watching the final season, I’m experiencing a deep sense of gratitude. It still feels surreal. It feels like just yesterday I was auditioning for this role.”
Moriarty, who publicly revealed her diagnosis of Graves’ disease in June 2025, spoke about the impact of the autoimmune condition on her work: “In the first six or seven episodes of season five, I felt completely offline. The illness made it so that I wasn’t able to be as present in this final season as I wanted, and that was very painful for me. Even though I was surrounded by a very supportive cast and crew, it was honestly scary at times.”
She added that she was unable to turn her illness into a tool for portraying Annie’s exhaustion: “I wish I could say it helped my performance, but the truth is I was just trying to get through each day. I still haven’t been able to watch the final season because, right now, prioritizing my mental health is the most important thing.”
Discussing Annie’s character development this season and her new habit of vaping, Moriarty explained: “I wanted Annie to have a nervous habit that gave her small moments of escape during scenes. She’s processing trauma from previous seasons, but what happens between seasons four and five is the hardest of all. She’s on the verge of collapse due to the casualties tied to the ‘Starlighter movement’ she leads, and you could even say she has suicidal thoughts.”
On the family storyline and her confrontation with her father, Moriarty believes the revelations in episode four bring emotional growth rather than increased anger toward her mother: “He gave Annie exactly what she needed to keep going. It’s a sign of emotional maturity that she can now take a more nuanced view of her parents and accept that her mother did the best she could.”
Regarding the series finale airing on May 20, Moriarty reassured viewers: “It’s a heartbreaking episode. But the ending is not overtly cynical. When I read the finale script, it was my favorite episode of the season. The writers worked very hard to respect what they thought the audience would want. I think audiences will be very satisfied with it.”
She also reflected on one of the most striking moments in the series where fiction and real-world events overlapped. In season four, she played a shapeshifter character who attempts to assassinate the president-elect. The episode was originally scheduled to air five days after the real-life assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July 2024.
She said: “The episode was called ‘Assassination Run,’ and we had to change the title. We even considered not releasing it at all because we didn’t know if I would receive death threats. That eerie overlap and timing was insane. Nobody could have predicted something like that.”
In closing, Moriarty reflected on growing alongside her character Starlight and what she has learned: “As long as you’re questioning yourself and trying to do good work, it means you’re a good person. This show taught me to stop doubting whether I did justice to Annie or not.”
