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The clown's influence on the young residents of Welcome to Derry molds them long into adulthood, transforming them into the exact individuals who keep the community's cycle of hatred alive. It finds easy targets on children from fractured households — children who often mature to replicate the identical behaviors as their guardians. But, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as one of the few family unit that never splinters, which may explain why Mike, even after choosing to stay in Derry, remains the sole member who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resilience

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy finally becomes more aware of the paranormal entities surrounding the community, especially when the entity starts haunting his child, Will Hanlon, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family consists of some of the few adults who are aware that things are not right with the municipality, notably Leroy, who was shown to be sensitive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect Dick Hallorann's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, he sees one of the clown's trademark inflated orbs outside his house. The ability, coupled with his failure to experience terror, combined with the foundation of his household, may be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that shining is generational, and a key factor Mike is one of the only individuals in the town who resisted succumbing to its cruelty?

The boy is a member of the collective of kids at his educational institution being tormented by Pennywise. All his school friends hail from dysfunctional families, with parents who refuse to accept they're being targeted. The cause he is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the community, paired with his potential sensitivity to shine, which renders him vulnerable. This family are ultimately outsiders in Derry during the early sixties, which lends itself towards the family sensing anomalies exist about the locality from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who originate in the town, with relationships that have decayed within.

Backstory Connections

Based on the It novel, we understand the juvenile Will will end up at the infamous nightclub, where the psychic will rescue him from a fire 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 the father ultimately dies in a configration, with his father surviving his own son and adopting his grandchild. The official story in the film is that the parents were on substances, but now that we see Will in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Maybe the shy boy, once he grew up, turned to alcohol to free himself of the torments, or perhaps the corrupt town got to him first, with the KKK ultimately completing the task it started long before. Be it via the terror of Pennywise or via the cruelty of the community, instigated by It, It in the end achieves the last laugh on him.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would clarify how the elder Hanlon transforms so drastically from what we witness in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his later years, he appears bitter and much harsher with his parenting. Because he outlived his own son, it's comprehensible to observe such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his words carry more weight now that we know he's witnessed Pennywise's hauntings and the effects they wrought upon his son. In the initial sequence of the movie, we see the boy pause to use a stunning device on a animal at the family property. Leroy chastises him for hesitating and provides an metaphor 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 we are, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he points to the sheep. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and someone is going to make that choice. Except you will be unaware it until you experience that projectile in your head.”

In hindsight, this could represent a bit of foreshadowing, a lesson he regrets not imparting to his own child. Perhaps he desires he had done something in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the sickening attraction of Derry.