Make Time For One Legendary Stephen King Film Prior to It: Welcome to Derry's Next Episode
The series Welcome to Derry contains numerous references to Stephen King's wide-ranging universe of narratives. Beyond the obvious links to the original story, the series includes a direct connection to The Shining via the cameo of a young future chef of the Overlook Hotel. Now, as the narrative progresses, Welcome to Derry is integrating another beloved tale from King that deserves a revisit.
The Haunting Story of The Shawshank Redemption
While The Shawshank Redemption may not be classified as horror, particularly compared to a lot of King's other work, it remains a gripping story about an innocently imprisoned individual condemned to live the rest of his life in a infamous prison. And it's this specific penitentiary which is important here, as the Shawshank facility holds significant history across King's stories — a pattern that continues within It: Welcome to Derry.
Some of 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 awful life inside Shawshank State Prison plus several of the inmates there, including 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 was via the eyes of Andy Dufresne from Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by Tim Robbins in the 1994 movie. The character Andy winds up at the prison after his wrongful conviction, then finds himself assaulted and abused by other prisoners, while taken advantage of by those in officials in power due to his expertise in finance. He requires him 28 years to tunnel an escape route from Shawshank, prior to crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his liberty.
The Prison's Role in It: Welcome to Derry
In relation to the series, viewers initially discovered of Shawshank's inclusion from an early trailer for the series, where a correctional transport was seen bearing the title displayed on its side. In episode 2, it is revealed which character is probably destined for the prison.
Although it is known he was not commit the murders of children initially, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested 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 child murderers at that prison?"
The Implications for the Character and His Daughter
Given that the real murderer in Derry is an ancient power from another world hunting and killing kids, Hank's chances of clearing his name do not look good. Even should he ends up in the prison and the audience do not see him there, knowing what is known about that prison makes it clear that his time there would be far from pleasant.
More importantly, however, this development would endanger his daughter. Hank is her guardian. Horrible things are occurring in the town which no one, young or old, understands and Ronnie just has her recently formed circle of pals to depend on. She's going to need her father in the coming episodes, but if the prison system has any say, she may be out of luck.
One thing seems clear: Hank doesn’t have three decades to dig his way out.
It: Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are currently available on HBO Max. Additional installments are released each week on Sundays.
