Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: the boys

The Boys: Erin Moriarty on Starlight's Major Family Moments in S05E04

The Boys star Erin Moriarty discusses how Annie's family arc played out in this week's episode and why it was important that it happened now.

In this week's episode of The Boys, the party has to seek out V1 without Annie "Starlight" January (Erin Moriarty), who's off in some soul-searching after being overwhelmed with guilt about how her boyfriend Hughie (Jack Quaid) was put in greater-than-usual danger with his fight with Maverick. As the Boys find themselves in a race against time at Fort Harmony, a secret abandoned Vought facility with Homelander (Antony Starr) and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) on their tail with similar ambitions, Annie seeks her father, Rick (Tim Daly), after sorting through her mother, Donna's (Anne Cusack) lies. Moriarty spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about closing that chapter of her life and finding out the truth in the episode "King of Hell." The following contains spoilers.

The Boys Star Erin Moriarty on Starlight's Father's Side of the Story

When Starlight finally finds Rick, she finds out that he didn't leave her and Donna due to "bad investments" as her mother claimed, but rather Donna's delusion that Annie's the "chosen one" after being injected with V and continuing to put her on a pedestal. With his new partner, Kathy (Deborah Drakeford), who shares his morals, and Annie's newly discovered antagonistic half-brother, Mason (Callum Shoniker), who's become pro-Homelander, Annie and Rick ultimately reconcile, and cooler heads prevail, even when danger comes to their doorstep in the form of Rick's co-worker and police officer Ed (Kris Hagen), who was summoned by Mason.

When asked about Annie's relationship with Donna, "That's an interesting question, Annie's relationship with her mother is very much one that many people can relate to. Every parent is a flawed parent. But at this point in time, Annie is able to look at things with nuance," Moriarty said. "She's had an immense amount of distance from Donna, and I think she's reached an emotionally mature enough point where it's not going to fuel 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 toward her mother."

As far as what reconnecting with Rick meant, "Annie's dad gave her exactly what she needed in this episode to keep going without it fueling more toxicity with her mother. He really galvanizes her and catalyzes her to find herself and her heroism for the remainder of the season," Moriarty continues. "There's this kismet alignment with these characters at this moment in time. If she had previously gone to her father for this information, it would've fueled further resentment toward her mother, and that would've eaten away at her and negated her ability to move forward in her story. She would've confronted her mother about how she lied to her. But right now, she's like, 'You know what? Mom did the best she could.' It's a testament to Anne's emotional maturation at this point."

Regarding how far Moriarty's come in her journey as Annie in five seasons of The Boys, "First and foremost, I'm just so grateful. That is the predominating feeling. I know I've grown and evolved with this show. I've learned so much, personally and professionally, that I'll take with me forever. But it's going to take a few years to truly absorb the entire experience in my mind and figure out how much the show has affected me and how much I've grown from it," she said. "There's this very meta element to Starlight. When she joined the Seven, people on the street suddenly called out her name. Simultaneously, I was starting to be known as Starlight, too. A lot of what Annie has gone through has weirdly paralleled my own life. This character is known for her purity, and as I've gotten older and grown with the character, people have also expected me to retain that initial pure element to Annie. So we have both matured over time."

The key to making Starlight and Annie work, Moriarty says, is how she constantly questions her morality: "I've learned a lot from how she's constantly questioning whether or not she's doing good. I've learned that as long as you're questioning yourself and trying to do good, it means you're a good person. As a Type A or Type A-minus person, I would constantly question whether I was doing enough for this character and the audience. When I got sick during the final season, I thought, Oh my God, I'm failing Annie, and I'm failing our audience," she explained. "So playing Annie as she's questioning whether or not she's doing good is a testament to the fact that she is doing good, and it was healing for me and my own questions. If I was able to say that Annie is good merely by trying to do good in every situation that she enters, then that meant that I'd done my best by constantly trying to do my best for the character and the audience. So I no longer question whether I've done right by Annie and the audience, and that's been my ultimate goal."

For more on Moriarty opening up about filming the final season halfway through production; unloading what's on Annie's mind between seasons four, five, and Gen V season two; managing her Graves' disease, anticipating the upcoming series finale reaction, what actors in more conventional superhero projects share what The Boys does they wish they could do, the series prophetic nature, and more, you can check out the entire interview. New episodes of The Boys stream Wednesdays on Prime Video.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!