Before she was flying around as Starlight or dealing with the absolute chaos of Homelander, Erin Moriarty was just a girl from Omaha named Hope. Well, a fictional one. If you go back to 2015, long before The Boys became a cultural juggernaut, Moriarty put in some of the most gut-wrenching work of her career in the first season of Marvel’s Jessica Jones.
It’s easy to forget. Back then, the Netflix-Marvel era was just finding its legs. Daredevil had set the bar high, but Jessica Jones was different. It was darker. It was messier. And at the heart of that first season's trauma was Hope Shlottman.
Honestly, looking back at Erin Moriarty in Jessica Jones, it’s wild how much that role prepared her for the themes of power and victimization she explores now. But Hope wasn’t a superhero. She didn’t have a costume. She was just a college athlete whose life got dismantled by a man with a purple suit and a terrifying voice.
Who Was Hope Shlottman Anyway?
Hope wasn’t just a side character. She was the catalyst. When we first meet her, she’s an NYU student-athlete, a track star who seems to have everything going for her. Then she meets Kilgrave.
You remember Kilgrave, right? David Tennant’s portrayal of a man who could make you do anything just by suggesting it? It remains one of the most chilling villain performances in TV history. Hope becomes his obsession because she is, as Moriarty once described her, the "polar opposite" of Jessica. She’s earnest. She’s "all-American." She’s innocent in a way Jessica hasn't been in a long time.
The tragedy of Erin Moriarty in Jessica Jones starts almost immediately. Kilgrave doesn't just kidnap her; he uses her to get back to Jessica. He forces Hope to call her parents, tell them she’s quitting the track team, and then eventually—in one of the most horrifying scenes of the series—he commands her to kill them.
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She does it. She has no choice. The look on Moriarty’s face in that elevator when the elevator doors open and she realizes what she’s done? That’s pure, unadulterated horror.
The Brutality of the Prison Arc
A lot of the first season involves Jessica trying to get Hope out of jail. It’s a legal nightmare. How do you prove someone was mind-controlled into committing murder?
Moriarty spends a huge chunk of the season behind bars, and she doesn't play it like a typical victim. She’s angry. She’s hopeless. At one point, she actually pays a fellow inmate, Sissy Garcia, to beat her up. Why? Because she discovered she was pregnant with Kilgrave’s child and wanted to miscarry.
It’s heavy stuff. This wasn't the "fun" side of Marvel. It was a deep dive into the psychological aftermath of assault. Moriarty had to carry that weight in almost every scene, showing the physical and mental toll of being a "Kilgrave survivor."
Jessica sees herself in Hope. That’s why she fights so hard. She wants to save Hope to prove that she herself can be saved. But the show was never that kind.
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Why Hope’s Ending Still Stings
If you haven't watched the show in a decade, you might have blocked out how Hope’s story ends. It’s brutal. Basically, she realizes that as long as she is alive, Jessica will keep trying to "save" her instead of just killing Kilgrave.
Hope sees herself as a liability. In a crowded restaurant, with Jessica watching, Hope stabs herself in the neck with a broken glass. Her final words are a plea: "Kill him."
It was a pivot point for the series. It stripped away the last bit of "heroism" Jessica was clinging to. For Erin Moriarty, it was a definitive exit that left a massive impact on the fans. She wasn't just a plot point; she was the emotional stakes of the entire season.
Comparing Hope Shlottman to Starlight
It’s actually kind of fascinating to compare Hope to Annie January (Starlight). Both characters are young women thrust into worlds where powerful men view them as objects.
In Jessica Jones, Hope is powerless. She’s a victim of a system and a man she can't fight back against. In The Boys, Annie has the power, but she still has to navigate the same types of predatory structures. You can see the DNA of Annie’s resilience in the way Moriarty played Hope’s desperation.
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Key Differences in the Roles:
- The Power Dynamic: Hope is a human in a world of "supers"; Annie is a "super" in a world of corrupt humans.
- The Outcome: Hope’s story is a tragedy defined by her sacrifice; Annie’s story is about survival and reclaiming her narrative.
- The Tone: Jessica Jones was a neo-noir psychological thriller; The Boys is a satirical gore-fest.
What This Role Did for Moriarty's Career
Before this, Moriarty was doing solid work in things like True Detective (she played Audrey Hart) and the indie hit The Kings of Summer. But Erin Moriarty in Jessica Jones was her first real "mainstream" breakthrough in the genre space.
Critics at the time noted how she managed to stay grounded while acting opposite powerhouses like Krysten Ritter and David Tennant. She didn't get lost in the shuffle. She made you care about a character who spent most of her time in a gray prison jumpsuit.
If you’re a fan of The Boys and you’ve never seen her work in the MCU (or whatever we’re calling the Netflix-era Defenders-verse now), you really should go back and watch it. It’s a masterclass in playing a character who is broken but still trying to exert some form of agency.
How to Revisit the Performance
If you want to see this era of Moriarty's career, the process is pretty straightforward.
- Disney+ is the spot: Since the Netflix deal ended, all the Defenders shows, including Jessica Jones, live on Disney+.
- Focus on Season 1: Moriarty is a series regular for the first season. While the show went on for two more years, her arc is strictly contained to those first 13 episodes.
- Watch for the Nuance: Pay attention to the scenes where she’s talking to Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss). The tension between the cold, calculating lawyer and the traumatized girl is some of the best acting in the show.
Hope Shlottman wasn't a hero who could shoot light from her hands, but her sacrifice was the only reason Kilgrave was finally stopped. It’s a legacy worth remembering, even if it’s a bit harder to watch than your average superhero brawl.
If you’re looking for more of Moriarty’s early work, check out her performance in Captain Fantastic or Blood Father. She’s consistently great at playing characters who are way tougher than they look at first glance.