Make Time For One Iconic Stephen King Movie Prior to It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment
The series Welcome to Derry is filled with connections to Stephen King's wide-ranging collection of tales. Apart from the obvious links to the original story, the show also features an explicit link to The Shining via the appearance of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Currently, as the story progresses, It: Welcome to Derry is integrating another beloved King story which merits a revisit.
The Haunting Story of The Shawshank Redemption
Although The Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as horror, especially compared to a lot of King's other work, it remains a haunting tale about an innocently imprisoned individual condemned to spend his remaining years in a infamous penitentiary. And it's that very penitentiary which is central in this context, since Shawshank State Prison holds considerable history throughout King's stories — a tradition which persists in It: Welcome to Derry.
Among the tales that reference the prison include Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these stories, we discover about the terrible conditions at the state penitentiary plus several of the inmates within, including the partner of one of Pennywise's initial victims, who was convicted of armed robbery.
Thus far, however, the most we've learned concerning Shawshank has been via the eyes of Andy Dufresne from Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by the actor Tim Robbins in the 1994 movie. Andy winds up at the prison following being wrongly convicted, and finds himself assaulted and abused by other prisoners, while exploited by the officials in power for his financial knowledge. He requires him 28 years to dig an escape route from Shawshank, before crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his freedom.
The Prison's Appearance in It: Welcome to Derry
In relation to the series, audiences first learned of Shawshank's inclusion from an initial preview for the show, in which a prison bus appeared with the name displayed on its side. In episode 2, we learn which character is probably headed to the prison.
Though we know he was not commit the murders of children initially, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. The preview for episode 3, "the upcoming installment," shows an officer informing a jailed Hank, "Are you aware what they do to child murderers in Shawshank?"
The Consequences for Hank and Ronnie
Given that the real murderer in the town is a primordial entity from another world preying on and murdering children, Hank's chances of proving his innocence do not look good. And even if he does go in the prison and the audience don't follow him inside, knowing what we do about that prison makes it clear that his time there would not be enjoyable.
Crucially, though, this situation would endanger Ronnie. Hank is her protector. Horrible things are happening in the town which no one, child or adult, comprehends and Ronnie only has her recently formed circle of pals to depend on. She's going to need her father in the coming episodes, but if Shawshank plays a role, she could be out of luck.
One thing seems clear: Hank doesn’t have 28 years to dig to freedom.
Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are streaming now via the streaming service. Additional installments are released each week on Sundays.
