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The clown's impact on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, twisting them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the community's cycle of animosity ongoing. The creature preys most easily on kids from fractured homes — children who frequently mature to repeat the same patterns as their parents. But, the Hanlon family distinguishes itself as one of the few family unit that never splinters, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in the town, persists as the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resilience

In the fourth installment of Welcome to Derry, Leroy at last grows increasingly conscious of the paranormal entities enveloping the community, particularly when It begins tormenting his child, Will, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family consists of some of the few grown-ups who are cognizant that things are not right with the town, notably Leroy, who was revealed to be sensitive 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 inflated orbs outside his residence. This gift, coupled with his failure to feel fear, along with the base of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and one of the reasons Mike Hanlon is among the few adults in the town who resisted succumbing to its cruelty?

Will is a member of the collective of kids at his school being terrorized by Pennywise. His classmates hail from broken homes, with caregivers who don't believe they're being haunted. The cause he is being haunted is because of the cruelty of the town, paired with his potential sensitivity to psychic abilities, which renders him vulnerable. This family are fundamentally 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 come from 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 Black Spot, where Hallorann will save him from a fire that the town bigots of the community will ignite. In the 2017 movie, we observe that he has a boy named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a fire, with his father surviving his own child and taking his grandson in. The official story in the film is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but now that we see him in the series, that's difficult to accept. Perhaps the timid youth, once he became an adult, leaned into alcohol to rid himself of the hauntings, or maybe the rotten town got to him first, with the hate group eventually completing the job it began long before. Whether through the fear of Pennywise or through the malice of the community, seeded by Pennywise, It in the end gets the final victory on him.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would explain how the elder Hanlon transforms so radically from what we witness in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, Leroy seems resentful and much stricter with his discipline. Since he outlived his own son, it's understandable to see such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his statements carry more weight since we are aware he's seen the clown's activities and the impacts they wrought upon his son. In the initial sequence of the movie, we see Mike pause to use a bolt gun on a sheep at the family property. His grandfather chastises him for delaying and offers an metaphor that leads to a kill-or-be-killed situation.

“There are two places you can be in this world. You can be in the open like us, or you can be in there,” he says as he points to the sheep. “You dawdle indecisive, and someone is going to make that choice. But you won't know it until you feel that bolt in your head.”

In hindsight, this could be a piece of foreshadowing, a lesson he regrets not imparting to his own son. Maybe he desires he had acted differently in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of Derry.