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Pennywise's influence on the children of the Derry series molds them long into adulthood, transforming them into the very adults who perpetuate the community's cycle of hatred alive. It finds easy targets on kids from fractured homes — youngsters who frequently mature to repeat the identical behaviors as their parents. But, the Hanlon family stands apart as a rare example of a households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after choosing to stay in the town, persists as the sole member who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Distinctive Resilience

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy Hanlon at last grows increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the neighborhood, especially when It starts haunting his child, Will Hanlon, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family consists of a small number of adults who are aware that something is amiss with the municipality, especially Leroy, who was shown to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect a fellow psychic's use of it in the third episode. Later, Leroy spots one of Pennywise's signature inflated orbs outside his house. This gift, coupled with his failure to feel fear, along with the base of his family, could be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that shining is hereditary, and a key factor Mike is one of the only adults in Derry who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

The boy is part of the collective of children at his educational institution being tormented by the clown. All his school friends come from broken homes, with parents who don't believe they're being haunted. The cause he is being pursued is because of the viciousness of the town, combined with his likely receptiveness to psychic abilities, which renders him vulnerable. This family are ultimately strangers in Derry during the early sixties, which contributes towards the family sensing something is off about the town from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a solid base that remains unbroken, unlike the folks who come from the area, with relationships that have decayed within.

Backstory Connections

Drawing from the It novel, we know the juvenile Will will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where the psychic will rescue him from a blaze that the town bigots of the community will cause. In the recent movie, we observe that Will has a boy named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own son and taking his grandson in. The public account in the motion picture is that the parents were on substances, but given our current view of Will in Welcome to Derry, that's difficult to accept. Perhaps the shy youth, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to rid himself of the hauntings, or maybe the corrupt environment got to him initially, with the hate group ultimately completing the task it started long before. Whether through the fear of Pennywise or via the cruelty of the community, instigated by It, It in the end gets the final victory on him.

Leroy's Transformation

These occurrences would clarify how Leroy changes so drastically from what we see in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his older age, he seems bitter and much harsher with his discipline. Because he outlived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to see such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his words carry more weight now that we know he's witnessed Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they had on his child. In the opening scene of It, we see the boy hesitate to use a stunning device on a animal at the family property. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and offers an metaphor that results in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

“You have two options you can be in this world. You can be out here like we are, or you can be in there,” Leroy says as he points to the sheep. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and someone is going to make that choice. Except you won't know it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could be a bit of foreshadowing, a lesson he regrets not imparting to his own son. Maybe he desires he had done something in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the repellent attraction of Derry.