Don't Miss This Legendary Stephen King Cinematic Before It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment
HBO's Welcome to Derry is packed with connections to Stephen King's extensive library of stories. Apart from the obvious links to It, the show includes an explicit link to The Shining via the cameo of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Now, as the story progresses, It: Welcome to Derry is integrating another classic tale from King that deserves another look.
The Haunting Story of The Shawshank Redemption
Although Shawshank Redemption isn't typically considered horror, especially compared to a lot of King's other work, it remains a gripping tale of a innocently imprisoned individual sentenced to spend his remaining years inside a notorious prison. And it's this specific institution that becomes central in this context, since the Shawshank facility holds significant lore across King's fictional world — a pattern that continues within It: Welcome to Derry.
Among the tales which mention Shawshank include Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these narratives, we discover regarding the terrible life inside Shawshank State Prison plus some of those imprisoned within, such as the boyfriend of one belonging to Pennywise's initial victims, who was found guilty of armed robbery.
So far, though, the majority we've learned concerning Shawshank has been via the eyes of Andy Dufresne from Shawshank Redemption, played by the actor Tim Robbins in the 1994 movie. The character Andy winds up in Shawshank after his wrongful conviction, and finds himself beaten and raped by fellow inmates, and exploited by those in authority figures due to his financial knowledge. He requires him 28 years to dig his way out of the prison, prior to crawling "through sewage" to take back his liberty.
The Prison's Appearance in It: Welcome to Derry
In relation to the series, audiences first learned about the prison's inclusion via an early trailer for the show, where a prison bus was seen with the name displayed on its side. In episode 2, it is revealed which character is likely headed to the prison.
Although we know he was not commit the child deaths in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested for the crimes. The preview for episode 3, "the upcoming installment," shows a guard informing Hank in his cell, "Do you know what they do to child murderers in Shawshank?"
The Implications for Hank and Ronnie
Considering that the real killer in the town is an ancient power originating elsewhere hunting and murdering kids, Hank's chances of proving his innocence do not look good. Even should he ends up to Shawshank and the audience do not see him inside, knowing what is known regarding Shawshank makes it clear that his experience would be far from pleasant.
Crucially, however, this situation could threaten Ronnie. He acts as her protector. Terrible events are happening in the town which no one, young or old, understands and Ronnie just has her recently formed of friends to depend on. She will require her dad as the story progresses, but if the prison system plays a role, she may be out of luck.
A single fact seems clear: 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. Additional installments are released each week on Sundays.
