You Should Watch This Legendary Stephen King Film Before It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment

The series Welcome to Derry is packed with references to Stephen King's extensive collection of tales. Beyond the obvious links to It, the series showcases an explicit connection to King's famous novel through the appearance of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Now, as the story progresses, Welcome to Derry is integrating another beloved tale from King that deserves a revisit.

The Haunting Tale of The Shawshank Redemption

Although The Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as a horror film, especially compared to a lot of King's other work, it remains a gripping tale of a innocently imprisoned man condemned to spend the rest of his life in a infamous prison. It is this specific penitentiary which is important here, since the Shawshank facility holds significant history throughout King's fictional world — a tradition which persists in Welcome to Derry.

Among the tales which mention Shawshank include Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Via these narratives, we discover about the awful life at Shawshank State Prison and several of the inmates there, such as the partner of one of Pennywise's early victims, who was convicted for robbery with a weapon.

So far, though, the majority we have discovered about the prison was via the eyes of Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by the actor Tim Robbins in the 1994 movie. Andy ends up at the prison after his wrongful conviction, then experiences assaulted and abused by other prisoners, and taken advantage of by those in officials in power due to his expertise in finance. It takes nearly three decades to dig an escape route of the prison, prior to crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his freedom.

Shawshank's Appearance in It: Welcome to Derry

In relation to It: Welcome to Derry, viewers initially discovered of Shawshank's involvement from an initial preview for the series, where 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 we know he did not responsible for the child deaths in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), dad to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested for those offenses. The preview for the next episode, "the upcoming installment," shows an officer informing a jailed Hank, "Do you know what they do to kiddie killers at that prison?"

The Consequences for Hank and Ronnie

Given that the actual killer in the town is an ancient power from another world hunting and killing children, Hank's chances of clearing his name appear slim. And even if he does go 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.

Crucially, however, this situation could threaten Ronnie. He acts as her guardian. Horrible things are occurring in the town that nobody, child or adult, understands and Ronnie just has her new group of friends to rely on. She will require her dad as the story progresses, but if Shawshank has any say, she may be out of luck.

One thing seems clear: Hank lacks three decades to tunnel to freedom.

Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are currently available on HBO Max. New episodes are released each week each Sunday.