🔗 Share this article Make Time For One Legendary Stephen King Cinematic Before the Series' Upcoming Installment The series It: Welcome to Derry is packed with nods to the author's extensive library of stories. Apart from the clear ties to the original story, the series showcases a direct link to The Shining via the appearance of a young Dick Hallorann. Currently, as the story unfolds, Welcome to Derry is integrating another beloved King story which merits a revisit. The Powerful Tale of The Shawshank Redemption While The Shawshank Redemption isn't typically considered a horror film, especially in contrast with much of King's other work, it is a haunting story of a innocently imprisoned man sentenced to spend the rest of his life inside a notorious penitentiary. And it's this specific institution that becomes important in this context, as Shawshank State Prison possesses considerable history across King's stories — a tradition which persists within Welcome to Derry. Some of the tales which mention Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Via these stories, we discover about the awful life at the state penitentiary plus several of the inmates within, such as the partner of one of Pennywise's early targets, who was found guilty of armed robbery. Thus far, however, the most we've learned concerning Shawshank has been via the eyes of the protagonist in Shawshank Redemption, played by the actor Tim Robbins in that 1994 movie. Andy ends up at the prison after his wrongful conviction, and experiences assaulted and raped by other prisoners, while taken advantage of by the officials in power for his expertise in finance. It takes nearly three decades to dig an escape route of the prison, before crawling "through a river of shit" to take back his liberty. The Prison's Role in Welcome to Derry In relation to It: Welcome to Derry, viewers first learned of Shawshank's inclusion via an initial preview for the show, where a prison bus was seen bearing the title displayed on its side. During the second episode, we learn which character is probably headed to the prison. Though we know he was not responsible for the murders of children in the first episode, Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. A teaser for the next episode, "the upcoming installment," reveals a guard informing Hank in his cell, "Are you aware what happens to kiddie killers in Shawshank?" The Implications for the Character and Ronnie Considering that the real killer in the town is an ancient power originating elsewhere hunting and murdering kids, Hank's chances of clearing his name do not look good. Even should he ends up to Shawshank and the audience don't follow him inside, knowing what we do regarding Shawshank indicates that his time there would not be pleasant. More importantly, however, this situation could threaten his daughter. He acts as her protector. Terrible events are happening around Derry which no one, child or adult, understands and Ronnie only has her recently formed of friends to depend on. She's going to need her dad as the story progresses, but if Shawshank plays a role, she could be out of luck. 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 via the streaming service. Additional installments are released each week on Sundays.