🔗 Share this article

Pennywise's impact on the young residents of Welcome to Derry molds them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the very adults who perpetuate the town's cycle of animosity ongoing. It finds easy targets on kids from fractured homes — youngsters who frequently grow up to repeat the identical behaviors as their guardians. But, the Hanlon family distinguishes itself as a rare example of a family unit that remains intact, which could clarify why Mike, even after electing to remain in Derry, remains the only Loser who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Distinctive Resistance

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes more aware of the supernatural forces enveloping the neighborhood, especially when the entity begins tormenting his child, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan comprises some of the few grown-ups who are aware that something is amiss with the town, notably the father, who was revealed to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect Dick Hallorann's employment of it in episode 3. Later, Leroy sees one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his residence. This gift, coupled with his inability to experience terror, combined with the foundation of his household, could be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. However, consider if that shining is generational, and one of the reasons Mike is one of the only adults in Derry who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

The boy is a member of the collective of children at his educational institution being terrorized by the clown. His classmates come from broken homes, with parents who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The reason he is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the community, combined with his likely receptiveness to psychic abilities, which makes him susceptible. This family are ultimately strangers in Derry during the early sixties, which contributes towards the family sensing something is off about the town from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who come from the area, with bonds that have deteriorated within.

Historical Context

Based on the original book, we understand the young Will Hanlon will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will rescue him from a fire that the town bigots of the community will ignite. In the recent film, we see that he has a son named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a fire, with his father surviving his own son and taking his grandson in. The public account in the motion picture is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but now that we see Will in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the timid youth, once he became an adult, turned to drink to free himself of the hauntings, or maybe the rotten town affected him first, with the KKK ultimately finishing the job it started years ago. Whether through the terror of the entity or through the malice of the town, instigated by It, the creature in the end achieves the final victory on him.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would explain how the elder Hanlon changes so drastically from what we see in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his later years, Leroy seems bitter and much stricter with his parenting. Since he outlived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to observe such a drastic change. Nonetheless, his words hold greater significance since we are aware he's witnessed the clown's activities and the effects they had on his child. In the opening scene of It, we observe Mike pause to use a bolt gun on a animal at Leroy's farm. Leroy chastises him for delaying and offers an metaphor that leads to a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

“You have two options you can be in this existence. You can be in the open like us, or you can be in there,” Leroy states as he points to the sheep. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. Except you won't know it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

Looking back, this could be a bit of foreshadowing, something he regrets not imparting to his own child. Perhaps he wishes he had done something in his youth, but for certain factors, he was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of Derry.