Make Time For This Legendary Stephen King Film Before the Series' Next Episode

The series Welcome to Derry contains numerous nods to Stephen King's extensive collection of tales. Apart from the obvious ties to It, the show also features a direct link to King's famous novel via the cameo of a young future chef of the Overlook Hotel. Now, as the story unfolds, It: Welcome to Derry is weaving in another classic tale from King that deserves a revisit.

The Powerful Story of The Shawshank Redemption

Although Shawshank Redemption isn't typically considered a horror film, particularly compared to a lot of the author's additional writing, it is a haunting story of a innocently imprisoned individual condemned to spend the rest of his life in a infamous penitentiary. And it's that very penitentiary which is central in this context, since the Shawshank facility possesses considerable lore across King's stories — a tradition which persists within Welcome to Derry.

Among the stories that reference Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these narratives, we discover regarding the terrible conditions inside the state penitentiary and some of the inmates there, including the partner of a belonging to Pennywise's early targets, who was found guilty for robbery with a weapon.

Thus far, though, the majority we've learned about the prison was through the eyes of the protagonist from Shawshank Redemption, played by Tim Robbins in the 1994 film. The character Andy ends up in Shawshank after being wrongly convicted, then finds himself beaten and raped by fellow inmates, and taken advantage of by those in authority figures for his expertise in finance. He requires him 28 years to dig an escape route from Shawshank, prior to crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his freedom.

Shawshank's Role in Welcome to Derry

Regarding the series, audiences first learned about the prison's inclusion via an initial preview for the series, where a prison bus appeared bearing the title painted on the side. In episode 2, we learn who is probably headed to Shawshank.

Although we know he was not responsible for the murders of children initially, the character Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested for the crimes. The preview for episode 3, "Now You See It," shows an officer telling Hank in his cell, "Are you aware what they do to child murderers at that prison?"

The Implications for Hank and Ronnie

Given that the real murderer in Derry is an ancient power from another world hunting and murdering kids, Hank's chances of proving his innocence appear slim. And even if he does go to Shawshank and the audience don't follow him inside, knowing what we do about that prison makes it clear that his time there would be far from pleasant.

More importantly, though, this development could threaten his daughter. He acts as her protector. Terrible events are occurring in the town which no one, young or old, comprehends and she just has her recently formed circle of pals to depend on. She will require her father in the coming episodes, however should Shawshank plays a role, she may be out of luck.

One thing seems clear: Hank doesn’t have three decades to dig to freedom.

Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are currently available on HBO Max. New episodes are released each week each Sunday.