Don't Miss One Legendary Stephen King Film Before the Series' Upcoming Installment
HBO's Welcome to Derry is packed with connections to the author's vast universe of narratives. Beyond the obvious ties to the original story, the show showcases a direct connection to King's famous novel via the appearance of a young future chef of the Overlook Hotel. Currently, as the story progresses, Welcome to Derry is integrating another classic King story which merits another look.
The Haunting Story of The Shawshank Redemption
Although Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as horror, particularly in contrast with a lot of King's other writing, it is a haunting tale of a wrongfully convicted man sentenced to live his remaining years in a infamous prison. It is this specific penitentiary that becomes important in this context, since the Shawshank facility possesses significant lore throughout King's stories — a tradition which persists in It: Welcome to Derry.
Some of the stories that reference Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Through these stories, we discover about the awful conditions inside Shawshank State Prison plus several of those imprisoned within, such as the boyfriend of one of Pennywise's early targets, who was convicted of armed robbery.
So far, though, the most we have discovered about the prison has been via the eyes of the protagonist from Shawshank Redemption, played by the actor Tim Robbins in that 1994 film. Andy winds up at the prison after being wrongly convicted, then finds himself assaulted and abused by other prisoners, while taken advantage of by the officials in power for his expertise in finance. He requires him 28 years to dig an escape route of the prison, before crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his liberty.
The Prison's Appearance in Welcome to Derry
Regarding the series, viewers first learned of Shawshank's involvement from an initial preview for the show, in which a prison bus appeared with the name displayed on its side. During the second episode, it is revealed who is probably headed to Shawshank.
Although we know he did not responsible for the child deaths initially, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), dad to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested for those offenses. A teaser for episode 3, "the upcoming installment," shows a guard informing Hank in his cell, "Do you know what happens to child murderers at that prison?"
The Implications for the Character and Ronnie
Considering that the actual murderer in the town is an ancient power from another world preying on and killing kids, Hank's prospects of clearing his name do not look good. Even should he ends up in the prison and the audience do not see him inside, knowing what we do regarding Shawshank makes it clear that his time there would be far from enjoyable.
More importantly, however, this situation would endanger his daughter. Hank is her protector. Horrible things are happening in the town that nobody, young or old, comprehends and Ronnie only has her new group circle of pals to rely on. She will require her father as the story progresses, but if Shawshank plays a role, she may be without help.
A single fact seems clear: Hank lacks 28 years to dig his way out.
Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are currently available via the streaming service. New episodes are released each week on Sundays.
