Andy Harper,[3] portrayed by Clayton Royal Johnson, is a recurring antagonist in the fourth and fifth seasons of Stranger Things. He is Jason's friend and teammate.
History
Background
Andy was born around 1969-1970. Nothing is known about his family life. In 1984, Andy attended Hawkins High School and was friends with Jason Carver, Patrick McKinney and Chance. They became close and joined the basketball team together.
1986
He initially appeared at the basketball match, where he, Jason, and other teammates celebrated their victory by spending the night at Benny's Burgers. The next morning, Andy is watching the most recent news while learning about the recent murder of a student from Hawkins High. When Andy makes fun of the student's death without realizing it is Jason's girlfriend, he offends everyone.
He swiftly adjusts his attitude and supports Jason's planned manhunt after discovering that the murdered student was Jason's girlfriend. Andy finds out that Lucas Sinclair is familiar with Hellfire and even knows that he is connected to Hellfire. Andy quickly turned against him for knowing about Hellfire. Later in the season, when Lucas thwarts the team's efforts and delays their plans, Andy admires his concerns, which turn out to be partially correct. After the death of his teammate, Patrick, Andy became more hostile and began to gather weapons like knives and guns. Andy immediately alerts Jason to the whereabouts of Erica, Lucas, and Max—who are not aware of it. Andy goes after Erica Sinclair, the younger sister of Lucas, as Jason and the group reach the infamous home where Vecna is lurking. Erica is tackled by Andy as he pins her and threatens to break her arm.
However, when Andy hears a gunfire, Erica breaks free from his grip and kicks him hard in the groin. As Andy grunts in pain, Erica hits him in the face with her flashlight, knocking him unconscious. He managed to survive the earthquakes created by Vecna in Hawkins, due to planning to remake the world in his own image.
1986-1987
After Jason is bisected in half when Vecna completed his ritual to open a massive gate across Hawkins, the Upside Down rifts into the town which places it under military quarantine. He takes over leading the remaining basketball team members.
Andy bullies Dustin multiple times for refusing to dishonor Eddie's legacy, although it's because he also thinks it's Jason whose legacy is being dishonored.
1987
On November 3, 1987, Andy and Chance confront Dustin for wearing a Hellfire Club T-shirt where Andy attempts to rip it apart after pinning Dustin against the lockers. He is stopped by Lucas who threatens to injure him if he bullied Dustin again where he is backed up by Mike Wheeler and Will Byers. Andy backs down from the Party's threats and leaves with Chance. Later, Dustin put a corn snake in Andy's locker, so he killed the snake, left it by Eddie's grave, used its blood to write “BURN IN HELL” on Eddie’s grave and beat Dustin senseless for it.
1989
Two years later, after Vecna and the Mind Flayer's death, Andy graduates high school with Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will and Max. Andy and Chance sit on either side of Max during the graduation ceremony. He also gives Dustin the silent treatment during his speech even when he agitates Principal Jeremy Higgins.
Personality
Andy is shown to be crueler and more ruthless than the rest of his basketball teammates. He has no qualms about making insensitive jokes, like mocking the death of a student before realizing that the dead student was Jason's girlfriend, Chrissy Cunningham. Andy is also very self-centered as he mocked those who were not as popular as him and his friends. He was even confrontational towards Lucas over his familiarity with Hellfire and even after discovering his association with Hellfire, Andy was quick to turn against him. After the death of his fellow teammate, Patrick, Andy grew more aggressive. In addition, Andy was willing to hurt younger children where he threatened to break Erica Sinclair's arms when he pinned her down, despite her being a minor.
In 1987, Andy's behavior is even worse as he physically attacks Dustin several times because of his loyalty to Eddie. He even goes so far as to kill his snake and vandalize Eddie's grave with its blood out of petty revenge before violently beating Dustin with his teammates with the intention of killing him. At the same time, however, Andy also turns out to be quite a coward, as when Lucas, Mike, and Will arrive to defend Dustin, he backs down. Furthermore, when he confronts Dustin at Eddie's grave, he enlists the help of his companions to beat him up.
Appearances
| Stranger Things appearances | |||||||||||||||||||
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Behind the scenes
Andy was first seen alongside Jason Carver in behind-the-scenes photos released in 2020.
Gallery
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For this subject's gallery, see Andy Harper/Gallery. |
Trivia
General
- Andy is mostly seen wearing a hat throughout the fourth season.
- Andy's name means "manly" in Greek (which is ironic given cowardly actions).
- Due to Andy threatening to break Erica's arms, Andy would have likely have gone to jail and be charged with high monetary fines for harming a minor.
- "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab" is the only episode of the fourth season that Andy does not appear in.