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The clown's influence on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them throughout their adult lives, twisting them into the very adults who perpetuate the town's pattern of animosity alive. The creature preys most easily on children from fractured households — youngsters who frequently grow up to repeat the identical behaviors as their guardians. However, the Hanlon household stands apart as a rare example of a family unit that never splinters, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in the town, remains the sole member who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Distinctive Resistance

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy at last grows increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, particularly when the entity begins tormenting his son, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family consists of some of the few adults who are cognizant that things are not right with the town, notably the father, who was revealed to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was capable of sensing Dick Hallorann's use of it in the third episode. Later, Leroy spots one of Pennywise's signature inflated orbs outside his residence. This gift, alongside his failure to experience terror, combined with the foundation of his family, may be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and a key factor Mike Hanlon is among the few individuals in Derry who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

Will is a member of the group of kids at his school being terrorized by the clown. All his school friends hail from dysfunctional families, with parents who don't believe they're being targeted. The cause Will is being pursued is due to the viciousness of the town, combined with his likely receptiveness to shine, which renders him vulnerable. This family are ultimately strangers in Derry during 1962, which contributes towards the family feeling anomalies exist about the locality from the onset. They also have a good foundation that isn't fractured, unlike the residents who originate in the town, with relationships that have deteriorated internally.

Backstory Connections

Drawing from the original book, we know the young Will Hanlon will end up at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the local KKK members of Derry will ignite. In the recent movie, we observe that he has a son named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own child and taking his grandson in. The public account in the film is that the parents were on drugs, but given our current view of Will in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Maybe the timid youth, once he grew up, leaned into alcohol to rid himself of the torments, or perhaps the corrupt environment affected him first, with the KKK eventually completing the task it began long before. Be it via the terror of the entity or via the malice of the town, instigated by Pennywise, It in the end gets the last laugh on him.

The Father's Evolution

These occurrences would clarify how Leroy changes so drastically from what we see in the first film and the prequel. In his older age, he seems resentful and much harsher with his discipline. Because he survived his own offspring, it's understandable to see such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his words carry more weight now that we know he's seen Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they had on his child. In the opening scene of the movie, we see the boy hesitate to use a stunning device on a sheep at Leroy's farm. His grandfather reprimands him for delaying and offers an analogy that results in a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be out here like we are, or you can be in there,” he states as he gestures to the creature. “You waste time hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. But you won't know it until you experience that projectile in your head.”

Looking back, this could be a piece of foreshadowing, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Maybe he wishes he had done something in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the sickening allure of the town.