Jerrica Castro on Terri Starstrike: A celebration of casual diversity, sci-fi storytelling, and black womanhood.
On May 22th 2025, a new indie animated series called Terri Starstrike debuted onto the indie-animated scene, or rather, it flew in from the stars, just like its sparkling alien protagonist, who charmed audiences with her curiosity and her desire to live amongst humankind, despite being nearly 60 feet tall. Today, the pilot episode continues to rank up 4,000 views on YouTube and a third episode was recently released on the same day exactly a year after the pilot episode.
Terri Starstrike is an animated series that takes place in the envisioned retro-future of the 1960s, where teachers teach through holograms and lockers are unlocked with just a fingerprint, and it focuses on the messy, turbulent, and incredibly durable friendship-turned-romance between an 18 year old alien princess named Terrina Ave-Lo, and her super-genius human friend, Bailey Wilson.
Together, these girls are about to experience the journey of a lifetime, navigating through high school, dodging paranoia from government agents and nosy neighbors, and ultimately, the girls are about to discover who they were truly meant to be.
Aiming to be the next brilliant writer and director in indie animation, the show’s creator, Jerrica “Eri” Castro, who also voices Terrina and Bailey, has talked about all the interesting tidbits that helped shaped the art style, writing and worldbuilding of their animated series, and what audiences can expect from Terri Starstrike in the future, and it looks like it’s going to be amazing future for the 25-year-old creator.
Who inspired you the most to be an animation storyteller?
Brad Bird. He always talks about how animation can be used as the ultimate storytelling medium for every genre, and I think animation is an amazing tool to tell stories and I’d snap anybody’s neck if they just disregard it as a “cartoon for kids.”, Animation is so much more than cartoons, and I take that to heart. Brad Bird has always been one of my biggest idols, and I also idolize Rebecca Sugar, Walt Disney, and all of my fellow black woman creators in animation, Kiana Mai (I Don’t Want To Be A Magical Girl), Breana Navickas (The Three Tomes), Dominique and Kay Synclaire (The Moon Odyssey). We got each other’s backs so I’m really happy that black women are stepping up to telling their own stories.
A look into the retrofuturistic halls of Westshore High School
What inspired you to be a voice actor?
I always loved to perform ever since I was born! I started singing when I was 14, and I released a Pop/R&B EP in the summer of 2023 called Sweetheart. I’ve been wanting to return to music for a long time, and be able to balance it out with making this cartoon. I’m the kind of person who wants to do it all, I wanna make music, I wanna do voice acting, I wanna be an example for black girls everywhere that they don’t need to limit themselves to just one thing.
How does it feel to play the groundbreaking Terrina Ave-Lo?
This show is a celebration of black women. All kinds of black women! It matters more to do than anything else that these little black girls in the hood and the ghetto or the suburbs or basically anywhere in the world would have a magical black girl who looks like them, speaks like them, acts like them, to give them hope that they don’t need to diminish their blackness or their hoodness or their general sense of kindness or sweetness in order to occupy those spaces for the next generation to follow. Terrina Ave-Lo is not just a character, she is a revolutionary for many black girls to truly be themselves, and to know that they too can be magical, and smart, and full of many different complex emotions. I wish I had a character, just like her, growing up.
What drew you to the characters of Terri and Bailey?
Bailey Wilson and Terrina Ave-Lo, the two main protagonists, who become madly in love with each other while embracing black womanhood.
For one, I loved Terrina from the start. She is a representation of the kind of magical, whimsical black girl I wanted as a child, and also like, the intersectionality! She’s a giantess, an alien, a sizeshifter, a black girl, AND a lesbian. She is my ultimate Magical Girl, and I love that she’s just so whimsical, curious, and always believing in the possibility of goodness. She just wants to do good, take risks, and go on a wild adventure with her friends, even if she has to drag them all by force.
For two, Bailey is so super smart, and she doesn’t take any BS for an answer. She’s just so confident, and strategic, and she’s so self-assured in herself, that she just kinda brushes off the nonsense with this sarcastic sense of humor. She can be a little vulnerable but that’s also something that I love about her, she’s not afraid to cry or express her fangirl nature, and she’s so fiercely protective of Terri that she would be anything to protect her.
So I’m hearing that Terri came from an entire planet of giants? Where did the idea come from?
Well, when I was in the early stages of creating this show, I always had the idea in the back of my mind that there was an entire society of giants, and Terri wasn’t the only one her size. What if the whole thing started because she ran away from home? And more importantly, who are these giants? What is their society like? Are they essentially the same as us?
So I always had this gut feeling that even though they’re sixty feet tall, it doesn’t make them any different from us. Sure, they’re omnipotent and they have great power, but they also deal with like insecurities and they’re so full of honesty and loyalty, so it really grounds these colossal and omnipotent beings into traits of humanity. And Terri believes that the Jotuzons were also meant to be harmonious with humans, and they can be that way again, if they “remember who they are.”
If you have one character to cross over with, who would it be and why?
Garnet from Steven Universe. She’s so stoic and powerful and always the first one to throw a punch whenever the team is dealing with a threat, but she’s also very human and tender and funny. She has a soft spot for keeping stray cats, and she can sometimes talk like she’s from the hood! I love that she always cares about everyone in Beach City, and she does it with love and empathy, seeing that she is made of love. I think Garnet would definitely see Terrina as her goddaughter or honorary niece, and she would definitely cheer for Terri from the balcony seats while Terri’s on stage unleashing her powerful vocal runs. And seeing that Garnet herself is a fusion, her components, Ruby and Sapphire, would absolutely love Terri! She would definitely call her “Titi Garnet”. I'm mainly a Tampa girl, but when I was living in Maryland, I got to meet Estelle at BlerdCon 2019, so I kinda already manifested it.
Your show emphasizes and normalizes diversity and representation of the Black American, Asian, Latinx, and LGBTQ communities living in California. How much do you champion diversity in spaces such as these?
Because in this show, there is someone on that cartoon who’s up there representing you, and that’s the main goal. I want to create this mosaic of shades, colors, cultures, genders, gay, straight, Muslim, Jewish, Filipino, Italian, whatever you wanna call it. They’re just simply a fabric of our everyday hometowns, and that’s the beating heart of America. Everyone is different, and that’s just normal. The Muslim girls are just normal girls, the transgender girl is just a part of girls' night, the Latina girls are not stereotypes that you see on TV. They're simply just normal people. It’s not something to fear or be paranoid about; it’s simply a part of our community, and that’s the main goal of creating a town like Westshore, California, to represent everyone we see in our communities.
Izzy Scott and Jacqueline El-Benn, the two major non-binary characters on Terri Starstrike.
Who are your favorite side characters in the show?
Chelsea Taleb-Stiles, who is of Italian, Palestinian, and Lebanese descent. She is an absurdly out-of-touch satire of an ultra-rich influencer going to high school and wearing the most high-fashion outfits I've ever designed for a human character. Her dad was an immigrant of Lebanon, but that's only in the background, and the main focus of her character is her dramatic tendencies, her absurd pranking schemes to remain on top, and her romantic relationship with Elijah Eisenhower, whom I also admire dearly. Elijah himself is like a satire of paranoid Americans who are very much afraid of what's not considered American and white, and he has these microaggressive insults towards Terri and Bailey while trying to be friendly, and it always comes off as hilarious. He and Chelsea do get better as they evolve.
And then we have two non-binary characters, Jacqueline El-Benn (they/she pronouns), who's one of the giants in this show, they're such a genius, and they know just about everything. And then there's Izzy Scott (they/them pronouns), who's a member of the school's soccer team and also a part-time DJ on their phone. They have such a snarky sense of humor that makes them so relatable, and I love getting to show nonbinary representation both on the human and the alien side, instead of just the alien side.
Chelsea Taleb-Stiles, the school's mean girl, rules Westshore High with a faux coat, a TV show, and a pair of 6-inch-tall stilettos.
In Episode 3, you explore the turbulent friendship between Terrina and the aforementioned cheerleading captain, Chelsea, who is highly regarded as the school’s resident Regina George. Is she going to be Terri’s friend or foe?
That’s one of the many mysteries of the show, cause you can’t really tell if they’re going be friends or enemies. It’s kinda messy to say the least, but I like to keep the audience on their toes. You should stay tuned!
There have been rumblings about Bailey Wilson, and what she’s going to experience in Episode 4, what are you most excited about for Bailey’s future?
Oh boy… I don’t wanna talk about that. I wanna keep it under wraps for now until I’m really ready, but anyone who follows the Terri Starstrike social media accounts knows what she will eventually becomes, and she’s very much on her way to becoming who she is supposed to be, instead of pretending to be someone she’s not, and she will finally be able to create her own identity. Take that what you will.
Finally, what is your biggest hope for Terri Starstrike to achieve for the industry?
My biggest hope is that it will eventually open the door for more black women writers, animators, and voice actors in the animation industry, and especially for more multi-faceted black female leads in mainstream media. As black women, we are all so, so beautiful with our many shades and colors and hairstyles, and we’re capable of doing so many amazing things in this industry, so I’m really excited to see that impact on everyone. I think that in the future, I’ll have my own meet and greet booth at BlerdCon over in Washington D.C., or maybe right here in my hometown, at the Tampa Bay Comic Con. It will be a sign that a black woman from Tampa, Florida, can truly make it in the animation industry, and that anyone can!
