🔗 Share this article Make Time For One Legendary Stephen King Cinematic Before It: Welcome to Derry's Upcoming Installment HBO's It: Welcome to Derry contains numerous connections to the author's wide-ranging collection of tales. Beyond the clear ties to It, the series includes an explicit connection to The Shining through the appearance of a young future chef of the Overlook Hotel. Currently, as the story unfolds, Welcome to Derry is integrating one more beloved tale from King that deserves another look. The Haunting Tale of The Shawshank Redemption Although Shawshank Redemption may not be considered a horror film, especially compared to a lot of King's other writing, it is a haunting tale of a wrongfully convicted individual sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a notorious penitentiary. It is this specific penitentiary that becomes important in this context, as the Shawshank facility holds significant history across King's stories — a tradition that continues in It: Welcome to Derry. Some of the tales which mention the prison include Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Via these narratives, we learn about the terrible conditions at Shawshank State Prison and several of the inmates there, including the boyfriend of a belonging to Pennywise's initial targets, who was found guilty of armed robbery. So far, however, the majority we've learned concerning Shawshank was via the perspective of the protagonist from The Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by Tim Robbins in the 1994 film. The character Andy winds up at the prison after being wrongly convicted, then finds himself assaulted and abused by fellow inmates, while exploited by the officials in power for his expertise in finance. It takes nearly three decades to tunnel his way out from Shawshank, prior to crawling "through sewage" to reclaim his liberty. Shawshank's Appearance in Welcome to Derry Regarding the series, audiences first learned about the prison's involvement via an initial preview for the series, where a prison bus was seen bearing the title painted on the side. During the second episode, we learn who is likely headed to Shawshank. Although it is known he was not responsible for the murders of children in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), dad to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. The preview for episode 3, "the upcoming installment," shows a guard telling a jailed Hank, "Are you aware what they do to child murderers in Shawshank?" The Consequences for Hank and Ronnie Given that the real killer in the town is an ancient power originating elsewhere hunting and killing children, Hank's chances of clearing his name do not look good. And even if he does go to Shawshank and the audience don't follow him inside, knowing what is known regarding Shawshank indicates that his experience would be far from pleasant. More importantly, though, this development would endanger Ronnie. Hank is her guardian. Terrible events are happening in the town that nobody, young or old, comprehends and she only has her new group circle of pals to depend on. She will require her father in the coming episodes, however should the prison system has any say, she may be out of luck. A single fact is apparent: Hank doesn’t have three decades to tunnel to freedom. It: Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are currently available via the streaming service. New episodes air weekly on Sundays.