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The clown's impact on the children of the Derry series shapes them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the exact individuals who keep the community's cycle of hatred ongoing. It finds easy targets on kids from fractured homes — youngsters who frequently grow up to replicate the same patterns as their parents. However, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as one of the few family unit that never splinters, which may explain why Mike, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the only Loser who doesn't completely succumb under Pennywise's sway.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resilience

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy Hanlon at last grows increasingly conscious of the paranormal entities surrounding the neighborhood, particularly when the entity starts haunting his son, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan consists of a small number of adults who are cognizant that things are not right with the municipality, especially Leroy, who was revealed to be sensitive to psychic abilities when he was capable of sensing a fellow psychic's employment of it in the third episode. Subsequently, he spots one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his house. The ability, coupled with his inability to feel fear, along with the base of his household, could be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and one of the reasons Mike Hanlon is among the few individuals in Derry who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

The boy is a member of the collective of children at his school being terrorized by the clown. All his school friends hail from broken homes, with caregivers who don't believe they're being targeted. The cause Will is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the town, combined with his likely receptiveness to shine, which renders him vulnerable. The Hanlons are fundamentally strangers in Derry during 1962, which contributes towards the family feeling anomalies exist about the locality from the onset. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that remains unbroken, in contrast to the folks who come from the area, with bonds that have deteriorated within.

Backstory Connections

Based on the It novel, we know the juvenile Will Hanlon will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will save him from a fire that the town bigots of Derry will ignite. In the recent movie, we see that Will has a boy named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a fire, with Leroy outliving his own child and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the film is that the parents were on substances, but now that we see Will in Welcome to Derry, that's difficult to accept. Perhaps the shy boy, once he grew up, leaned into drink to free himself of the torments, or perhaps the corrupt environment got to him initially, with the KKK eventually finishing the task it started years ago. Whether through the terror of the entity or through the cruelty of the town, seeded by It, the creature eventually achieves 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 later years, he appears bitter and much harsher with his parenting. Because he survived his own son, it's understandable to see such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his statements hold greater significance since we are aware he's seen Pennywise's hauntings and the effects they wrought upon his son. In the opening scene of the movie, we observe Mike hesitate to use a bolt gun on a animal at the family property. His grandfather chastises him for delaying and offers an analogy that leads to a kill-or-be-killed scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be out here like us, or you can be in there,” he states as he points to the creature. “You waste time indecisive, and someone is going to decide for you. Except you will be unaware it until you experience that bolt in your head.”

In hindsight, this could be a piece of prediction, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Maybe he desires he had acted differently in his past, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the sickening attraction of the town.