You Should Watch One Legendary Stephen King Cinematic Before It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment
The series Welcome to Derry contains numerous references to Stephen King's wide-ranging universe of narratives. Beyond the clear links to It, the show showcases a direct link to The Shining through the cameo of a young Dick Hallorann. Now, as the narrative unfolds, It: Welcome to Derry is weaving in one more beloved King story which merits another look.
The Powerful Story of The Shawshank Redemption
While The Shawshank Redemption may not be considered a horror film, especially compared to a lot of King's other work, it remains a haunting story about an wrongfully convicted individual sentenced to spend his remaining years in a infamous prison. And it's this specific institution that becomes important here, as the Shawshank facility possesses significant lore across King's stories — a pattern which persists within It: Welcome to Derry.
Some of the stories that reference the prison are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Through these narratives, we discover regarding the awful conditions inside the state penitentiary plus some of those imprisoned there, including the boyfriend of one belonging to Pennywise's initial victims, who had been found guilty for robbery with a weapon.
Thus far, however, the majority we have discovered about the prison has been via the eyes of the protagonist from Shawshank Redemption, played by the actor Tim Robbins in the 1994 film. Andy winds up at the prison following being wrongly convicted, and experiences assaulted and abused by fellow inmates, while taken advantage of by those in officials in power due to his expertise in finance. He requires nearly three decades to tunnel an escape route of the prison, prior to crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his liberty.
Shawshank's Appearance in Welcome to Derry
In relation to the series, viewers initially discovered about the prison's involvement via an early trailer for the show, in which a correctional transport was seen bearing the title painted on the side. During the second episode, it is revealed who is probably headed to the prison.
Although we know he did not responsible for the murders of children in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for those offenses. The preview for episode 3, "the upcoming installment," reveals an officer informing a jailed Hank, "Are you aware what they do to child murderers at that prison?"
The Implications for Hank and Ronnie
Given that the actual murderer in Derry is an ancient power from another world hunting and murdering children, Hank's prospects of proving his innocence do not look good. And even if he ends up in the prison and viewers do not see him inside, knowing what is known about that prison makes it clear that his experience would be far from pleasant.
More importantly, however, this development could threaten his daughter. Hank is her guardian. Terrible events are occurring in the town which no one, child or adult, understands and Ronnie only has her recently formed of friends to rely on. She will require her father in the coming episodes, however should the prison system plays a role, she could be without help.
A single fact seems clear: Hank doesn’t have three decades to tunnel his way out.
It: Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are streaming now on HBO Max. Additional installments air weekly each Sunday.
