Don't Miss This Legendary Stephen King Cinematic Before It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment
HBO's It: Welcome to Derry contains numerous references to Stephen King's wide-ranging universe of narratives. Beyond the obvious links to It, the series also features an explicit connection to King's famous novel through the cameo of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Now, as the story progresses, Welcome to Derry is integrating another beloved King story which merits a revisit.
The Powerful Tale of The Shawshank Redemption
Although Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as horror, especially in contrast with much of King's other writing, it is a haunting tale of a innocently imprisoned individual condemned to live his remaining years inside a notorious penitentiary. It is that very penitentiary which is important in this context, as the Shawshank facility possesses considerable history across King's fictional world — a pattern which persists within Welcome to Derry.
Among the tales that reference the prison are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Through these narratives, we learn about the terrible conditions at the state penitentiary and some of those imprisoned within, such as the partner of a belonging to Pennywise's initial victims, who was convicted of armed robbery.
Thus far, though, the majority we've learned concerning Shawshank has been via the eyes of Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption, played by the actor Tim Robbins in the 1994 movie. The character Andy ends up in Shawshank after being wrongly convicted, and experiences assaulted and abused by other prisoners, and exploited by the officials in power for his financial knowledge. He requires him 28 years to dig an escape route of the prison, before making his way "through sewage" to take back his freedom.
Shawshank's Appearance in Welcome to Derry
In relation to the series, audiences initially discovered about the prison's involvement from an initial preview for the series, in which a prison bus was seen with the name painted on the side. During the second episode, it is revealed which character is likely headed to Shawshank.
Though we know he was not commit the murders of children in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), dad to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. The preview for the next episode, "Now You See It," reveals a guard telling Hank in his cell, "Are you aware what they do to child murderers in Shawshank?"
The Consequences for Hank and Ronnie
Considering that the real killer in Derry is an ancient power originating elsewhere preying on and killing kids, Hank's chances of proving his innocence do not look good. And even if he ends up in the prison and the audience do not see him there, knowing what we do regarding Shawshank makes it clear that his time there would be far from pleasant.
More importantly, though, this situation could threaten Ronnie. Hank is her guardian. Terrible events are occurring in the town which no one, young or old, comprehends and Ronnie just has her new group of friends to rely on. She will require her dad in the coming episodes, but if the prison system plays a role, she could be out of luck.
A single fact seems clear: Hank doesn’t have three decades to tunnel to freedom.
It: Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are streaming now via the streaming service. Additional installments are released each week each Sunday.
