Make Time For One Legendary Stephen King Film Before the Series' Next Episode
HBO's It: Welcome to Derry contains numerous connections to Stephen King's vast collection of tales. Beyond the clear links to It, the series includes an explicit link to King's famous novel via the appearance of a young future chef of the Overlook Hotel. Currently, as the narrative progresses, Welcome to Derry is integrating one more classic tale from King which merits a revisit.
The Haunting Story of The Shawshank Redemption
While The Shawshank Redemption may not be considered horror, especially in contrast with a lot of King's other work, it is a gripping tale about an wrongfully convicted man sentenced to live the rest of his life in a infamous penitentiary. And it's that very penitentiary that becomes important here, since the Shawshank facility possesses significant lore throughout King's fictional world — a pattern that continues within It: Welcome to Derry.
Among the tales which mention the prison are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Through these stories, we discover about the terrible life at Shawshank State Prison and some of the inmates within, such as the partner of one of Pennywise's initial victims, who was found guilty for robbery with a weapon.
So far, though, the most we've learned concerning Shawshank has been via the eyes of the protagonist from Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by Tim Robbins in the 1994 movie. The character Andy winds up at the prison after being wrongly convicted, then experiences beaten and raped by fellow inmates, and taken advantage of by the authority figures due to his expertise in finance. He requires nearly three decades to tunnel an escape route of the prison, before crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his freedom.
The Prison's Role in Welcome to Derry
In relation to the series, viewers first learned of Shawshank's inclusion from an initial preview for the series, where a prison bus was seen bearing the title displayed on its side. In episode 2, we learn who is likely headed to Shawshank.
Though we know he was not commit the child deaths in the first episode, Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for those offenses. The preview for the next episode, "the upcoming installment," shows a guard informing a jailed Hank, "Do you know what happens to kiddie killers in Shawshank?"
The Implications for the Character and His Daughter
Considering that the real killer in the town is an ancient power originating elsewhere preying on and murdering kids, Hank's chances of proving his innocence appear slim. And even if he ends up in the prison and the audience don't follow him there, knowing what is known about that prison indicates that his time there would not be enjoyable.
Crucially, though, this development would endanger Ronnie. He acts as her protector. Horrible things are occurring in the town which no one, child or adult, understands and she only has her recently formed of friends to rely on. She will require her dad as the story progresses, but if Shawshank has any say, she could be without help.
One thing is apparent: Hank doesn’t have 28 years to tunnel his way out.
Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are streaming now via the streaming service. New episodes air weekly each Sunday.