Make Time For One Legendary Stephen King Movie Before the Series' Next Episode
The series Welcome to Derry is packed with connections to Stephen King's wide-ranging universe of narratives. Apart from the clear links to the original story, the show includes a direct connection to King's famous novel through the appearance of a young Dick Hallorann. Currently, as the narrative unfolds, Welcome to Derry is weaving in another classic King story that deserves a revisit.
The Haunting Tale of The Shawshank Redemption
While Shawshank Redemption may not be classified as horror, especially in contrast with much of the author's additional work, it remains a haunting tale about an wrongfully convicted man sentenced to live the rest of his life inside a infamous penitentiary. And it's this specific institution that becomes central in this context, as the Shawshank facility holds significant lore across King's stories — a tradition which persists in It: Welcome to Derry.
Some of the tales which mention Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these stories, we learn about the awful conditions at the state penitentiary plus several of those imprisoned there, such as the partner of a belonging to Pennywise's initial targets, who had been convicted of armed robbery.
So far, though, the most we have discovered about the prison has been through the eyes of the protagonist from The Shawshank Redemption, played by Tim Robbins in that 1994 movie. Andy winds up in Shawshank after his wrongful conviction, and experiences assaulted and abused by other prisoners, and taken advantage of by the authority figures for his expertise in finance. It takes nearly three decades to dig an escape route of the prison, before crawling "through sewage" to reclaim his liberty.
Shawshank's Role in It: Welcome to Derry
In relation to It: Welcome to Derry, viewers first learned about the prison's inclusion from an early trailer for the series, in which a correctional transport was seen bearing the title displayed on its side. During the second episode, we learn who is probably headed to the prison.
Although we know he was not commit the child deaths in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. The preview for the next episode, "the upcoming installment," shows an officer telling Hank in his cell, "Do you know what they do to kiddie killers at that prison?"
The Implications for Hank and His Daughter
Considering that the actual killer in Derry is a primordial entity from another world preying on and murdering kids, Hank's prospects of proving his innocence do not look good. And even if he does go in the prison and viewers do not see him there, knowing what is known regarding Shawshank makes it clear that his experience would not be pleasant.
More importantly, though, this development would endanger his daughter. He acts as her protector. Horrible things are happening around Derry that nobody, young or old, comprehends and she only has her recently formed circle of pals to depend on. She will require her father in the coming episodes, however should the prison system has any say, she could be out of luck.
One thing seems clear: Hank lacks 28 years to dig his way out.
Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are currently available on HBO Max. New episodes are released each week on Sundays.
