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Pennywise's impact 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 hatred ongoing. The creature finds easy targets on kids from broken households — children who often mature to repeat the identical behaviors as their parents. However, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as one of the few households that never splinters, which could clarify why Mike Hanlon, even after choosing to stay in the town, remains the sole member who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resilience

In the fourth installment of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon at last grows more aware of the paranormal entities enveloping the community, particularly when It begins tormenting his child, Will, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family consists of a small number of grown-ups who are cognizant that things are not right with the municipality, notably the father, who was revealed to be sensitive to the Shining when he was capable of sensing a fellow psychic's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, he sees one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his residence. The ability, coupled with his inability to feel fear, along with the foundation of his family, may 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 the town who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

The boy is a member of the group of kids at his educational institution being tormented by Pennywise. All his school friends come from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The reason he is being haunted is because of the viciousness of the town, combined with his likely receptiveness to shine, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are ultimately outsiders in Derry during 1962, which lends itself towards the family sensing anomalies exist about the locality from the beginning. They also have a solid base that isn't fractured, unlike the residents who originate in the town, with relationships that have deteriorated within.

Backstory Connections

Drawing from the It novel, we know the juvenile Will will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will rescue him from a fire that the town bigots of Derry will ignite. In the recent film, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that Will ultimately dies in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own son and taking his grandson in. The public account in the film is that the parents were on substances, but given our current view of him in the series, that's difficult to accept. Maybe the shy boy, once he became an adult, turned to drink to free himself of the hauntings, or perhaps the rotten town affected him first, with the hate group ultimately completing the task it began years ago. Whether through the fear of the entity or via the cruelty of the town, instigated by It, It in the end achieves the final victory on Will.

Leroy's Transformation

These occurrences would clarify how the elder Hanlon changes so drastically from what we see in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, he appears resentful and much harsher with his parenting. Because he outlived his own son, 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 initial sequence of It, we observe the boy pause to use a bolt gun on a animal at the family property. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and provides an metaphor that results in a survival-of-the-fittest situation.

“You have two options 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. But you will be unaware it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could represent a bit of prediction, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Maybe he desires he had done something in his past, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the repellent attraction of the town.