🔗 Share this article You Should Watch This Legendary Stephen King Film Before the Series' Upcoming Installment The series It: Welcome to Derry is packed with references to the author's extensive library of stories. Apart from the clear links to the original story, the series also features a direct connection to King's famous novel through the appearance of a young future chef of the Overlook Hotel. Currently, as the story progresses, Welcome to Derry is integrating one more classic King story which merits another look. The Haunting Tale of The Shawshank Redemption Although The Shawshank Redemption isn't typically classified as horror, particularly compared to a lot of King's other writing, it is a haunting story of a wrongfully convicted individual sentenced to spend his remaining years in a infamous penitentiary. It is this specific penitentiary which is central here, as Shawshank State Prison possesses significant history across King's stories — a pattern which persists within It: Welcome to Derry. Among the tales that reference Shawshank are Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, Apt Pupil, 11/22/63, as well as It. Via these narratives, we discover about the terrible life at Shawshank State Prison and several of those imprisoned there, including the partner of a belonging to Pennywise's initial victims, who was convicted of armed robbery. Thus far, however, the majority we have discovered concerning Shawshank has been via the perspective of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, played by Tim Robbins in that 1994 film. The character Andy ends up at the prison after being wrongly convicted, then finds himself beaten and raped by other prisoners, and exploited by the authority figures due to his financial knowledge. He requires nearly three decades to dig an escape route of the prison, before making his way "through a river of shit" to take back his liberty. The Prison's Appearance in Welcome to Derry In relation to It: Welcome to Derry, audiences first learned about the prison's involvement via an early trailer for the series, where a prison bus appeared with the name displayed on its side. During the second episode, we learn which character is probably destined for Shawshank. Although it is known he was not commit the murders of children initially, the character Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), dad to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), gets taken into custody for the crimes. A teaser for episode 3, "the upcoming installment," reveals an officer telling a jailed Hank, "Are you aware what happens to kiddie killers at that prison?" The Consequences for Hank and His Daughter Given that the actual murderer in the town is an ancient power from another world preying on and killing kids, Hank's chances of proving his innocence do not look good. Even should he does go to Shawshank and the audience don't follow him inside, understanding what is known regarding Shawshank makes it clear that his time there would be far from pleasant. More importantly, however, this situation could threaten Ronnie. Hank is her guardian. Horrible things are happening around Derry that nobody, young or old, comprehends and Ronnie just has her recently formed of friends to rely on. She will require her father as the story progresses, but if Shawshank plays a role, she could be out of luck. A single fact seems clear: Hank lacks 28 years to dig his way out. It: Welcome to Derry the first two episodes are streaming now via the streaming service. New episodes are released each week each Sunday.