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Pennywise's impact on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the community's cycle of animosity alive. The creature finds easy targets on kids from fractured homes — children who frequently mature to repeat the same patterns as their parents. However, the Hanlon household stands apart as a rare example of a households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in Derry, remains the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resilience

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy Hanlon at last grows increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the neighborhood, particularly when It starts haunting his son, Will, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family consists of a small number of adults who are aware that things are not right with the town, especially Leroy, who was revealed to be sensitive to psychic abilities when he was capable of sensing Dick Hallorann's employment of it in episode 3. Subsequently, Leroy spots one of Pennywise's signature balloons outside his residence. This gift, coupled with his failure to experience terror, along with the foundation of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving the entity's manifestations. However, consider if that shining is generational, and a key factor Mike Hanlon is among the few adults in the town who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

Will is a member of the collective of children at his school being tormented by the clown. His classmates hail from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The reason he is being haunted is because of the cruelty of the community, paired with his potential sensitivity to psychic abilities, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are fundamentally strangers in Derry during 1962, which contributes towards the family feeling something is off about the locality from the onset. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that remains unbroken, in contrast to the folks who originate in the area, with relationships that have deteriorated within.

Backstory Connections

Based on the original book, we understand the juvenile Will Hanlon will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the town bigots of the community will cause. In the recent movie, we observe that Will has a son named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own child and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the motion picture is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but now that we see Will in the series, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the shy boy, once he grew up, leaned into alcohol to free himself of the torments, or maybe the corrupt town affected him first, with the KKK eventually completing the task it began long before. Whether through the fear of the entity or via the malice of the town, seeded by It, It eventually gets the final victory on him.

The Father's Evolution

These occurrences would clarify how Leroy transforms so radically from what we witness in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his later years, he appears bitter and much stricter with his parenting. Because he survived his own offspring, it's understandable to observe such a profound shift. However, his words carry more weight since we are aware he's seen Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they wrought upon his son. In the initial sequence of It, we observe the boy pause to use a bolt gun on a sheep at Leroy's farm. His grandfather reprimands him for hesitating and provides an analogy that leads to a kill-or-be-killed scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be in the open like us, or you can be trapped inside,” he states as he gestures to the creature. “You waste time hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. Except you will be unaware it until you feel that projectile between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could represent a bit of foreshadowing, a lesson he regrets not imparting to his own child. Perhaps he desires he had acted differently in his past, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the sickening allure of the town.