HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry is full of references to Stephen King’s countless other stories. Sure, there are the obvious connections to It, but there’s also a direct link to The Shining thanks to the appearance of a young Dick Hallorann, the eventual chef at Overlook Hotel in the film. Now, as the show continues, Welcome to Derry is weaving in another King classic that’s worth revisiting as the series continues.
While The Shawshank Redemption might not be classified as horror, especially compared to a lot of King’s other work, it’s a haunting tale of a wrongfully convicted man sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a notorious penitentiary. And it’s that penitentiary we’re primarily concerned with here, as Shawshank State Prison has quite a bit of lore throughout King’s stories — a trend that continues in It: Welcome to Derry.
Among the tales that reference Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, and It. Through these stories, we learn about how awful life at Shawshank State Prison is and some of those housed there, including the boyfriend of one of Pennywise’s early victims, who was found guilty of armed robbery.
Thus far, though, the most we’ve learned about the prison has been through the eyes of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, played by Tim Robbins in the 1994 movie. Andy winds up in Shawshank after his wrongful conviction, and finds himself beaten and raped by fellow inmates, while taken advantage of by the officials in power for his financial knowledge. It takes him 28 years to tunnel his way out of the prison, before crawling “through a river of shit” to take his freedom back.
Where It: Welcome to Derry is concerned, viewers first learned of Shawshank’s inclusion from an early trailer for the show, in which a prison bus was seen with the name painted on the side. In episode 2, we learn who is likely destined for the prison.
Though we know he was not responsible for the child deaths in the first episode, Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), father of Ronnie (Amanda Christine), is arrested for the crimes. The preview for episode 3, “Now You See It,” reveals an officer telling a jailed Hank, “Do you know what they do to kiddie killers in Shawshank?”
Given that the actual killer in Derry is an ancient power from another world hunting and murdering children, Hank’s chances of clearing his name don’t look good. And even if he does go to Shawshank and viewers don’t follow him there, knowing what we do about that prison makes it clear that his experience would not be pleasant.
More importantly, though, this move would endanger Ronnie. Hank is her protector. Horrible things are happening around Derry that nobody, child or adult, comprehends and Ronnie only has her new group of friends to fall back on. She’s going to need her dad in the coming episodes, but if Shawshank has any say in the matter, she may be our of luck.
One thing seems clear: Hank doesn’t have 28 years to dig his way out.
It: Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are streaming now on HBO Max. New episodes air weekly each Sunday.