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Pennywise's influence on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, twisting them into the very adults who perpetuate the community's cycle of animosity alive. It finds easy targets on kids from broken households — youngsters who frequently grow up to replicate the identical behaviors as their guardians. But, the Hanlon household stands apart as one of the few family unit that remains intact, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the sole member who doesn't completely succumb under Pennywise's sway.

The Hanlon Family's Distinctive Resilience

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes more aware of the paranormal entities surrounding the neighborhood, particularly when the entity begins tormenting his child, Will Hanlon, 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, notably the father, who was shown to be receptive to the Shining when he was capable of sensing a fellow psychic's employment of it in episode 3. Later, Leroy sees one of Pennywise's signature balloons outside his residence. This gift, alongside his inability to experience terror, combined with the foundation of his family, may be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and one of the reasons Mike is one of the only adults in the town who resisted succumbing to its cruelty?

Will is part of the collective of kids at his school being terrorized by Pennywise. All his school friends hail from dysfunctional families, with parents who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The cause he is being pursued is because of the viciousness of the community, paired with his potential sensitivity to psychic abilities, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are fundamentally strangers in Derry during the early sixties, which contributes towards the family feeling something is off about the town from the onset. 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 young Will will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where the psychic will save him from a fire that the local KKK members of the community will ignite. In the recent film, we see that he has a son named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own son and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the motion picture is that the parents were on drugs, but given our current view of Will in the series, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the shy boy, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to rid himself of the torments, or perhaps the rotten town got to him initially, with the KKK eventually completing the task it started years ago. Whether through the fear of Pennywise or via the malice of the community, seeded by It, the creature in the end gets the last laugh on Will.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would explain how Leroy changes so radically from what we witness in It: Chapter 1 and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, he seems resentful and much stricter with his discipline. Since he survived his own son, it's comprehensible to observe such a drastic change. Nonetheless, his statements hold greater significance now that we know he's seen the clown's activities and the impacts they had on his child. In the initial sequence of It, we see Mike hesitate to use a bolt gun on a animal at Leroy's farm. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and offers an analogy that results in a survival-of-the-fittest situation.

“You have two options you can be in this world. You can be in the open like we are, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he gestures to the sheep. “You dawdle indecisive, and another is going to make that choice. Except you won't know it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could be a bit of prediction, something he wishes he had told his own son. Perhaps he desires he had done something in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the sickening attraction of the town.