Make Time For One Legendary Stephen King Movie Before It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment
The series Welcome to Derry is filled with nods to the author's wide-ranging collection of tales. Beyond the obvious ties to the original story, the series also features a direct link to King's famous novel via the appearance of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Now, as the story unfolds, It: Welcome to Derry is weaving in one more beloved King story that deserves a revisit.
The Haunting Tale of The Shawshank Redemption
Although Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as a horror film, especially compared to a lot of King's other writing, it is a gripping story of a wrongfully convicted individual condemned to spend the rest of his life inside a infamous prison. It is this specific penitentiary that becomes important in this context, as the Shawshank facility holds considerable history across King's stories — a tradition which persists within Welcome to Derry.
Among the tales that reference Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Through these stories, we discover about the awful life at Shawshank State Prison plus several of the inmates within, including the partner of a belonging to Pennywise's initial targets, who had been found guilty of armed robbery.
So far, though, the majority we have discovered concerning Shawshank has been via the perspective of Andy Dufresne from Shawshank Redemption, played by Tim Robbins in that 1994 film. The character Andy winds up at the prison after being wrongly convicted, then finds himself beaten and abused by fellow inmates, and exploited by the authority figures due to his financial knowledge. It takes nearly three decades to tunnel his way out from Shawshank, prior to crawling "through sewage" to reclaim his freedom.
Shawshank's Appearance in Welcome to Derry
Regarding It: Welcome to Derry, audiences initially discovered of Shawshank's inclusion from an early trailer for the show, where a prison bus appeared with the name painted on the side. In episode 2, it is revealed which character is likely headed to Shawshank.
Although it is known he did not responsible for the child deaths in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), dad to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested for those offenses. A teaser for the next episode, "the upcoming installment," reveals a guard telling Hank in his cell, "Do you know what happens to kiddie killers in Shawshank?"
The Implications for Hank and His Daughter
Considering that the actual killer in Derry is a primordial entity originating elsewhere hunting and killing children, Hank's prospects of clearing his name do not look good. And even if he does go in the prison and viewers don't follow him there, understanding what is known regarding Shawshank makes it clear that his experience would not be pleasant.
Crucially, though, this development could threaten Ronnie. He acts as her protector. Horrible things are occurring in the town which no one, child or adult, understands and she just has her recently formed of friends to depend on. She will require her dad in the coming episodes, but if the prison system has any say, she may be out of luck.
A single fact seems clear: Hank lacks 28 years to tunnel to freedom.
Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are currently available via the streaming service. New episodes are released each week each Sunday.
