The series It: Welcome to Derry contains numerous connections to the author's extensive library of stories. Apart from the obvious ties to It, the series includes a direct connection to The Shining through the appearance of the youthful Dick Hallorann. Currently, as the narrative progresses, Welcome to Derry is weaving in one more classic tale from King that deserves another look.
Although The Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as horror, particularly in contrast with a lot of King's other writing, it is a haunting tale about an wrongfully convicted man condemned to spend his remaining years inside a infamous penitentiary. And it's this specific institution that becomes important in this context, since the Shawshank facility holds considerable history across King's stories — a tradition that continues within Welcome to Derry.
Some of the tales which mention Shawshank include Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Via these narratives, we discover about the awful life inside the state penitentiary and several of the inmates within, such as the boyfriend of a of Pennywise's early targets, who had been convicted for robbery with a weapon.
Thus far, however, the majority we have discovered about the prison has been through the eyes of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, portrayed by Tim Robbins in that 1994 movie. The character Andy ends up at the prison after being wrongly convicted, and experiences assaulted and raped by fellow inmates, while exploited by the officials in power for his financial knowledge. It takes him 28 years to dig his way out of the prison, prior to making his way "through a river of shit" to take back his liberty.
In relation to the series, viewers first learned of Shawshank's inclusion from an early trailer for the show, in which a prison bus appeared with the name painted on the side. In episode 2, it is revealed which character is probably headed to the prison.
Although it is known he was not commit the murders of children in the first episode, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. The preview for the next episode, "Now You See It," shows an officer informing a jailed Hank, "Are you aware what happens to kiddie killers at that prison?"
Considering that the actual killer in Derry is a primordial entity from another world hunting and killing children, Hank's chances of proving his innocence appear slim. And even if he ends up in the prison and the audience do not see him there, knowing what is known about that prison makes it clear that his experience would be far from enjoyable.
More importantly, though, this development would endanger Ronnie. He acts as her protector. Horrible things are occurring in the town that nobody, child or adult, comprehends and she just has her recently formed circle of pals to rely on. She's going to need her dad in the coming episodes, however should the prison system has any say, she may be without help.
One thing seems clear: Hank doesn’t have three decades to dig his way out.
It: Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are streaming now on HBO Max. New episodes air weekly each Sunday.
