You Should Watch One Legendary Stephen King Movie Prior to It: Welcome to Derry's Next Episode

HBO's It: Welcome to Derry is packed with references to the author's extensive collection of tales. Apart from the clear links to the original story, the show showcases an explicit link to King's famous novel through the appearance of a young future chef of the Overlook Hotel. Currently, as the narrative unfolds, Welcome to Derry is weaving in another classic King story that deserves a revisit.

The Haunting Tale of The Shawshank Redemption

While The Shawshank Redemption isn't typically considered a horror film, especially in contrast with a lot of King's other work, it is a gripping tale of a wrongfully convicted man condemned to live his remaining years in a notorious penitentiary. It is this specific penitentiary which is central in this context, as Shawshank State Prison possesses considerable lore throughout King's fictional world — a tradition which persists within It: Welcome to Derry.

Some of the tales which mention Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Through these stories, we discover about the awful life at Shawshank State Prison plus some of the inmates within, such as the boyfriend of one belonging to Pennywise's early targets, who was convicted of armed robbery.

Thus far, however, the most we have discovered about the prison has been via the perspective of the protagonist from The Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by the actor Tim Robbins in that 1994 film. The character Andy winds up in Shawshank after being wrongly convicted, and experiences assaulted and raped by fellow inmates, while exploited by those in authority figures due to his expertise in finance. It takes him 28 years to tunnel an escape route from Shawshank, prior to crawling "through sewage" to reclaim his liberty.

The Prison's Role in Welcome to Derry

Regarding the series, audiences initially discovered about the prison's inclusion via an early trailer for the show, where a correctional transport was seen bearing the title displayed on its side. During the second episode, it is revealed which character is probably 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), dad to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for those offenses. The preview for the next episode, "the upcoming installment," reveals a guard telling a jailed Hank, "Do you know what they do to child murderers in Shawshank?"

The Implications for the Character and Ronnie

Given that the real killer in Derry is an ancient power from another world preying on and murdering kids, Hank's chances of proving his innocence appear slim. Even should he does go in the prison and viewers don't follow him inside, understanding what we do about that prison indicates that his experience would not be pleasant.

More importantly, however, this situation could threaten Ronnie. Hank is her guardian. Terrible events are happening in the town that nobody, young or old, understands and Ronnie just has her recently formed circle of pals to rely on. She's going to need her dad as the story progresses, however should the prison system has any say, she may be out of luck.

A single fact seems clear: Hank lacks three decades to dig to freedom.

Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are streaming now via the streaming service. New episodes are released each week each Sunday.