Andy Knightley

Andrew "Andy" Knightley is one of the main protagonists in The World's End. He is portrayed by Nick Frost.

Background
Andy was born in 1973 and had become best friends with Gary King while also befriending Steven, Oliver, and Peter. Together, they attended school at Newton Haven. He also played rugby in his youth. In 1986, he and Gary reenacted the "knife game" from Alien which resulted in Gary accidentally stabbing Andy in the middle finger, giving him a scar. On the day they finished high school, Andy attempted to complete The Golden Mile with his friends, which would see them go on a pub crawl through all 12 pubs in Newton Haven, apparently getting into a fight in The Beehive. He lasts long enough to see dawn break, along with Gary and Steven, though they fail to finish The Golden Mile, not making it to the last three pubs.

After that night, Andy stayed in contact with Gary and the two remained friends until December 1997, when Gary overdosed and Andy was forced to drive him to the hospital while heavily inebriated. Andy ended up crashing his car and almost severed his femoral artery, at which point Gary abandoned his friend to get arrested after 12 hours of life-saving surgery. After this event, Andy broke off contact with Gary and swore off alcohol. At some point, he got a job as a corporate lawyer. He also married and had children, though he had become estranged from his spouse 3 weeks before Gary's visit.

The Pub Crawl
Andy was the most reluctant to return to Newton Haven, but he felt sorry for Gary after being told that Gary's mum had died from cancer. He joined the others at the High Wycombe train station and grew annoyed at Gary for being late. At the First Post, Andy reveals that he had been sober since 1997 and refused to drink, ordering a tap water. After keeping this up for the next three pubs, Andy drinks all five shots after their first encounter with the blanks in the Cross Hands no longer being the only one sober enough to drive them all back to London. He grows increasingly angry with Gary after learning that his mum was, in fact, alive and well. He temporarily ignores this when dancing with Becky Salt who swallows Andy's wedding ring as a means of seducing him, but Steven ends up pulling Andy away.

Andy is the most observant of the group since, during their conversation with Mr. Shepherd, he realized that Oliver was now a blank because his birthmark was back. After they flight off Shepherd and the other blanks, they retreat to The Smokehouse where Andy and the others question if Gary is human, which Gary proves to be. They flee through the woods and after Peter is killed by the blanks, Andy knocks Gary out to prevent him from dragging them on the rest of the crawl. They attempt to find the beat, but they need to go through number ten to reach it while dodging blanks. Gary wakes up and finishes his tenth pint, implying it to be his last, but he throws Andy the keys and makes a run for it. Andy chases after him despite Steven's protests and fends off blanks en route and at the Hole in the Wall. He punches his wedding ring out of Becky's stomach remarking "cheers" before catching up with Gary at The World's End.

In the final pub, Andy fights Gary trying to prevent him from drinking his last pint, and during the struggle, Gary is revealed to have his wrists bandaged up (implying that he tried to kill himself). Heartbroken, Andy tells Gary that he needs help, but Gary reveals that he got help and it was ineffective. He pours his heart out, revealing that his life never got better than the night they attempted to complete The Golden Mile for the first time. Andy tells Gary that he doesn't need to finish the crawl to feel better, but Gary disagrees and attempts to pour himself another drink. When he pulls the lever on the tap, the pub starts trembling and the bar, along with the two men, descends into the ground. When they descend into the Underground Complex, Gary drunkenly argues with the network and Andy also participates (later joined by their friend Steven who is revealed to be alive). They successfully convince The Network to leave them to their own devices, after which an electromagnetic pulse is triggered and after Sam drives Andy and the others away from the explosion, Andy and Gary sit down on that same hill from 23 years ago and Gary tearfully says that he's sorry, to which Andy replies "I know," and holds him.

In the epilogue, Andy is seen narrating the "day the lights went out" to a group of survivors. He tells them what happened to the others, but that nobody knows what happened to Gary. He says that some say Gary returned to Newton Haven, but Andy is unconvinced, believing Gary's business there to be done. Andy concludes his story by stating that he misses Gary, but he hopes that Gary is happy because:

"That's all he [Gary] ever wanted really; to have a good time. I just hope he found it beyond the bottom of a glass, because real happiness, real friends, those are things worth living for. Worth fighting for."

Trivia

 * Nick Frost also portrayed Ed in Shaun of the Dead and Danny Butterman in Hot Fuzz.