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The clown's impact on the young residents of Welcome to Derry shapes them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the exact individuals who keep the community's cycle of animosity alive. It finds easy targets on kids from fractured homes — youngsters who frequently mature to repeat the identical behaviors as their parents. However, the Hanlon family stands apart as one of the few households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike, even after electing to remain in the town, remains the sole member who doesn't completely succumb under Pennywise's sway.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resilience

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon at last grows more aware of the paranormal entities surrounding 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 cognizant that something is amiss with the municipality, notably the father, 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, he sees one of the clown's trademark inflated orbs outside his residence. This gift, alongside his failure to experience terror, along with the base of his family, may be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that shining is hereditary, and one of the reasons Mike is one of the only adults in the town who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

The boy is part of the collective of kids at his school being terrorized by the clown. His classmates hail from broken homes, with caregivers who don't believe they're being haunted. The cause Will is being pursued is due to the viciousness of the community, combined with his likely receptiveness to shine, which renders him vulnerable. The Hanlons are fundamentally outsiders in Derry during 1962, which lends itself towards the family sensing something is off about the town from the onset. They also have a good foundation that isn't fractured, in contrast to the folks who originate in the area, with bonds that have deteriorated internally.

Historical Context

Based on the original book, we understand the juvenile Will Hanlon will find himself at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the town bigots of Derry will cause. In the 2017 film, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a fire, 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 now that we see Will in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the shy boy, once he became an adult, leaned into alcohol to free himself of the hauntings, or perhaps the corrupt environment affected him initially, with the hate group ultimately completing the task it began years ago. Be it via the terror of the entity or via the malice of the community, seeded by It, It in the end achieves the final victory on him.

Leroy's Transformation

These occurrences would explain how the elder Hanlon transforms so drastically from what we see in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his older age, Leroy seems bitter and much harsher with his parenting. Since he outlived his own son, it's comprehensible to see such a drastic change. However, his words carry more weight now that we know he's witnessed the clown's activities and the effects they wrought upon his child. In the opening scene of the movie, we observe the boy hesitate to use a stunning device on a sheep at the family property. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and provides an analogy that leads to a survival-of-the-fittest situation.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be out here like us, or you can be in there,” he says as he gestures to the creature. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. Except you will be unaware it until you feel that bolt in your head.”

In hindsight, this could be a bit of foreshadowing, something he regrets not imparting to his own child. Maybe he wishes he had acted differently in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of the town.