You Should Watch This Iconic Stephen King Film Before It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment
The series It: Welcome to Derry is filled with connections to Stephen King's wide-ranging collection of tales. Beyond the clear ties to It, the show showcases a direct connection to King's famous novel via the appearance of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Currently, as the narrative unfolds, It: Welcome to Derry is integrating one more beloved tale from King that deserves a revisit.
The Powerful Story of The Shawshank Redemption
While The Shawshank Redemption may not be considered a horror film, particularly compared to a lot of King's other work, it remains a gripping story about an wrongfully convicted individual sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a infamous penitentiary. It is this specific institution which is important in this context, since the Shawshank facility holds considerable history throughout King's stories — a pattern which persists in Welcome to Derry.
Some of the tales that reference Shawshank include Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these stories, we discover regarding the terrible life inside the state penitentiary and several of the inmates there, such as the boyfriend of a of Pennywise's early targets, who had been convicted for robbery with a weapon.
So far, though, the majority we've learned concerning Shawshank has been through the perspective of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, played by the actor Tim Robbins in that 1994 film. The character Andy winds up in Shawshank following being wrongly convicted, and experiences assaulted and abused by other prisoners, and exploited by those in officials in power for his financial knowledge. It takes him 28 years to dig an escape route from Shawshank, prior to crawling "through sewage" to reclaim his freedom.
The Prison's Appearance in Welcome to Derry
In relation to It: Welcome to Derry, audiences initially discovered about the prison's involvement from an initial preview for the show, where a prison bus appeared with the name displayed on its side. During the second episode, it is revealed who is likely destined for the prison.
Although we know he did not responsible for the child deaths in the first episode, Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested for those offenses. The preview for the next episode, "Now You See It," shows an officer informing Hank in his cell, "Do you know what happens to child murderers in Shawshank?"
The Consequences for Hank and His Daughter
Considering that the actual killer in Derry is a primordial entity from another world hunting and killing kids, Hank's prospects of proving his innocence do not look good. And even if he ends up to Shawshank and viewers do not see him there, knowing what we do regarding Shawshank makes it clear that his time there would not be enjoyable.
Crucially, though, this development would endanger Ronnie. He acts as her guardian. Horrible things are occurring in the town which no one, young or old, comprehends and she just has her recently formed circle of pals to rely on. She will require her father in the coming episodes, but if Shawshank has any say, she could be without help.
A single fact seems clear: Hank doesn’t have 28 years to tunnel to freedom.
It: Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are currently available via the streaming service. Additional installments are released each week on Sundays.
