🔗 Share this article Don't Miss This Legendary Stephen King Cinematic Prior to It: Welcome to Derry's Next Episode HBO's Welcome to Derry is packed with connections to the author's wide-ranging library of stories. Apart from the obvious ties to It, the show showcases a direct link to The Shining through the appearance of a young Dick Hallorann. Currently, as the story unfolds, Welcome to Derry is weaving in one more classic King story which merits a revisit. The Powerful Story of The Shawshank Redemption While Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as a horror film, especially compared to a lot of the author's additional work, it remains a haunting tale of a innocently imprisoned man sentenced to live the rest of his life inside a notorious prison. And it's this specific institution that becomes important in this context, since the Shawshank facility holds considerable lore throughout King's fictional world — a pattern that continues in Welcome to Derry. Among the tales which mention the prison are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these narratives, we discover regarding the terrible conditions inside the state penitentiary plus some of the inmates within, such as the boyfriend of one belonging to Pennywise's initial victims, who was convicted for robbery with a weapon. So far, though, the majority we've learned about the prison has been via the perspective of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by Tim Robbins in the 1994 film. The character Andy ends up in Shawshank after his wrongful conviction, then experiences beaten and raped by other prisoners, while taken advantage of by those in authority figures due to his financial knowledge. He requires nearly three decades to tunnel his way out from Shawshank, prior to crawling "through a river of shit" to reclaim his liberty. The Prison's Appearance in Welcome to Derry Regarding the series, audiences initially discovered of Shawshank's inclusion from an early trailer for the series, where a prison bus appeared with the name displayed on its side. During the second episode, we learn who is probably destined for Shawshank. Though we know he was not responsible for the murders of children in the first episode, Hank Grogan (played by Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for those offenses. The preview for episode 3, "the upcoming installment," shows a guard informing a jailed Hank, "Are you aware what happens to child murderers in Shawshank?" The Implications for Hank and Ronnie Given that the real killer in the town is a primordial entity from another world preying on and murdering children, Hank's prospects of clearing his name appear slim. And even if he does go in the prison and the audience do not see him there, knowing what is known regarding Shawshank indicates that his experience would not be pleasant. More importantly, however, this development would endanger Ronnie. He acts as her guardian. Terrible events are occurring around Derry that nobody, child or adult, understands and Ronnie only has her recently formed of friends to depend on. She's going to need her dad 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 dig to freedom. It: Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are currently available via the streaming service. New episodes air weekly each Sunday.