You Should Watch One Iconic Stephen King Film Before the Series' Upcoming Installment
The series It: Welcome to Derry contains numerous connections to Stephen King's vast collection of tales. Apart from the obvious ties to the original story, the series also features a direct connection to King's famous novel through the cameo of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Currently, as the story progresses, It: Welcome to Derry is weaving in one more classic King story that deserves a revisit.
The Haunting Story of The Shawshank Redemption
While Shawshank Redemption isn't typically considered horror, especially compared to much of the author's additional work, it remains a haunting story of a innocently imprisoned individual sentenced to live his remaining years in a infamous prison. And it's this specific institution that becomes important here, as the Shawshank facility possesses considerable history across King's stories — a tradition which persists within Welcome to Derry.
Among the stories which mention Shawshank include Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these stories, we discover about the awful conditions inside Shawshank State Prison plus some of those imprisoned within, such as the boyfriend of one belonging to Pennywise's early victims, who had been found guilty of armed robbery.
Thus far, though, the most we've learned concerning Shawshank was through the eyes of Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption, played by the actor Tim Robbins in that 1994 movie. The character Andy ends up in Shawshank following being wrongly convicted, then finds himself assaulted and abused by fellow inmates, and exploited by those in officials in power for his expertise in finance. He requires nearly three decades to dig his way out of the prison, prior to crawling "through a river of shit" to take back his freedom.
The Prison's Role in Welcome to Derry
In relation to the series, audiences initially discovered of Shawshank's inclusion from an early trailer for the show, in which a prison bus was seen bearing the title displayed on its side. During the second episode, it is revealed which character is probably headed to Shawshank.
Although it is known he was not commit the murders of children in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. A teaser for the next episode, "Now You See It," shows a guard telling a jailed Hank, "Do you know what happens to child murderers at that prison?"
The Consequences for the Character and Ronnie
Considering that the actual murderer in the town is an ancient power from another world preying on and murdering kids, Hank's chances of proving his innocence appear slim. And even if he does go in the prison and viewers do not see him inside, knowing what is known about that prison indicates that his experience would not be pleasant.
More importantly, though, this situation could threaten his daughter. Hank is her protector. Terrible events are occurring in the town which no one, young or old, understands and Ronnie only has her new group of friends to rely on. She will require her dad in the coming episodes, but if Shawshank plays a role, she may be out of luck.
A single fact seems clear: Hank doesn’t have 28 years to dig his way out.
Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are streaming now on HBO Max. New episodes are released each week on Sundays.
