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Pennywise's influence on the children of the Derry series shapes them long into adulthood, transforming them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the community's cycle of animosity ongoing. The creature preys most easily on kids from fractured households — children who often mature to replicate the identical behaviors as their parents. But, the Hanlon family distinguishes itself as a rare example of a households that never splinters, which could clarify why Mike, even after choosing to stay in the town, persists as the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Distinctive Resistance

In the fourth installment of Welcome to Derry, Leroy at last grows more aware of the paranormal entities enveloping the community, particularly when the entity begins tormenting his child, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan comprises some of the few adults who are cognizant that something is amiss with the town, notably Leroy, who was revealed to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was capable of sensing a fellow psychic's use of it in episode 3. Later, he sees one of the clown's trademark inflated orbs outside his residence. The ability, alongside his failure to experience terror, along with the foundation of his family, could be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and one of the reasons Mike Hanlon is one of the only individuals in Derry who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

Will is part of the collective of children at his educational institution being terrorized by Pennywise. All his school friends hail from dysfunctional families, with parents 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 likely receptiveness to psychic abilities, which renders him vulnerable. The Hanlons are fundamentally strangers in Derry during 1962, which contributes towards the household feeling anomalies exist about the town from the onset. Additionally, they possess a solid base that isn't fractured, unlike the folks who come from the town, with bonds that have decayed within.

Backstory Connections

Based on the It novel, we know the young Will Hanlon will end up at the infamous nightclub, where the psychic will save him from a blaze that the local KKK members of the community will cause. In the 2017 film, we observe that he has a son named Mike and that Will ultimately dies in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own child and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the film is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but given our current view of him in Welcome to Derry, that's difficult to accept. Maybe the timid youth, once he grew up, turned to alcohol to rid himself of the torments, or maybe the rotten town affected him first, with the KKK eventually finishing the job it started long before. Be it via the terror of the entity or via the cruelty of the town, instigated by Pennywise, the creature in the end gets the final victory on Will.

Leroy's Transformation

These occurrences would explain how the elder Hanlon transforms so radically from what we see in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his older age, he appears bitter and much harsher with his parenting. Because he survived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to observe such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his words carry more weight now that we know he's seen the clown's activities and the effects they had on his child. In the initial sequence of It, we observe Mike hesitate to use a stunning device on a animal at Leroy's farm. Leroy chastises him for hesitating and provides an analogy that leads to a survival-of-the-fittest situation.

“You have two options you can be in this existence. You can be out here like we are, or you can be trapped inside,” he states as he gestures to the sheep. “You dawdle indecisive, and someone is going to decide for you. But you will be unaware it until you experience that projectile between your eyes.”

Looking back, this could represent a piece of prediction, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Maybe he wishes he had acted differently in his past, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the sickening attraction of Derry.