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Erin Moriarty, who stars as Annie January/Starlight on The Boys, has been one of the talking points during the fifth and final season of the hit Prime Video series. The discussion, however, has not been centered on her character’s arc or her performance, but her appearance.
The Boys star, who plays Annie January/Starlight across all five seasons of the Amazon series, revealed in a recent interview that she has not been watching Season 5 as it airs — a first for her since the show premiered in 2019 — as she doesn’t feel psychologically ready for it.
Erin Moriarty says that she’s not watching the final season of The Boys because she’s not “psychologically” ready for reliving her battle with Grave’s disease
“It did lead to me not being as present for Annie during this final season as I would’ve hoped, and that was super painful for me. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m failing Annie and I’m failing our audience. I wish I could have used it to enhance or to relate to her weariness, but to be honest, I was on set every day just really, really, really struggling to get through it all,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I wasn’t able to transcend the physical and mental toll that this disease took on me until episode seven. It’s a testament to how profoundly impactful these autoimmune diseases can be, and I don’t think that people are aware to the degree that they can be. So I wish I was able to say it served the character, but unfortunately, it was a matter of getting through every day. The psychological toll that it took on me, I’ll be able to use it in the future, but I couldn’t while it was going on simultaneously. Sadly not,” she continued.
“I love this show so much. But I’m not watching the final season simply because it’s really important for me at this moment in time to put my psychological health above all other things.”
Moriarty was diagnosed with Graves’ disease last June — an autoimmune condition causing thyroid overactivity that produces symptoms including rapid weight loss, muscle weakness, and significant fatigue — and says the illness peaked during the exact stretch of filming that comprises much of the current season. She described feeling like she was “failing Annie and our audience” for the first six episodes, unable to fully inhabit the character until Episode 7 when her health had stabilized enough to allow it.
Since the Season 5 premiere earlier this month, Moriarty has been the subject of sustained online criticism about changes in her appearance that reached such a boiling point that co-star Antony Starr publicly voiced his support of her. Moriarty has since disclosed that she temporarily lost the ability to walk during production, fell and shredded her knee the night before filming a key scene, and described the season as coinciding with “the scariest moments of my life.”
“Okay, so: season 5, episode 4 of The Boys is one of the most important episodes I’ve ever shot. Unfortunately, that part of the season coincided with my health issues peaking before my diagnosis. I’m saving you the gnarly part of this picture but not long after this episode, I started to lose the ability to walk. The numbness in my feet led to a lot of falling. The night before we shot my segment of this episode, I fell and shredded up my knee,” Moriarty wrote on Instagram last week.
“I barely have any bts shots of this season, especially as things worsened. This isn’t a pity post. It’s mostly to say: f– autoimmune disease. F— it so hard. F– the ignorance surrounding it, too. I can’t remedy that ignorance but not being outspoken about it occasionally, feels wrong.”
The Boys Season 5 continues Wednesdays on Prime Video until the series finale airs on May 20.