🔗 Share this article

Pennywise's influence on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, twisting them into the very adults who keep the community's cycle of hatred ongoing. It finds easy targets on children from broken homes — youngsters who often mature to replicate the same patterns as their guardians. However, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as one of the few family unit that remains intact, which may explain why Mike, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Distinctive Resilience

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes increasingly conscious of the paranormal entities enveloping the community, especially when It begins tormenting his child, Will, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family comprises some of the few grown-ups who are aware 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 the third episode. Later, Leroy sees one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his house. The ability, alongside his failure to feel fear, along with the base of his household, may be why he's capable of perceiving the entity's manifestations. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and a key factor 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 educational institution being tormented by the clown. His classmates hail from broken homes, with caregivers who don't believe they're being haunted. The reason Will is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the town, paired with his potential sensitivity to psychic abilities, which makes him susceptible. This family are fundamentally outsiders in Derry during the early sixties, which contributes towards the household sensing something is off about the town from the beginning. They also have a solid base that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who come from the area, with bonds that have decayed within.

Historical Context

Drawing from the It novel, we know the young Will Hanlon will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where the psychic will save him from a blaze that the local KKK members of Derry will cause. In the recent film, we see that Will has a boy named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own child and taking his grandson in. The public account in the motion picture is that the parents were on drugs, but given our current view of him in the series, that's difficult to accept. Maybe the timid youth, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to free himself of the torments, or perhaps the rotten town affected him first, with the hate group ultimately completing the job it began years ago. Whether through the fear of the entity or via the malice of the town, seeded by It, It eventually achieves the final victory on him.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would clarify how Leroy transforms so radically from what we see in the first film and the prequel. In his older age, he appears bitter and much harsher with his discipline. Since he outlived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to observe such a drastic change. However, his statements hold greater significance now that we know he's seen the clown's activities and the effects they wrought upon his son. In the opening scene of the movie, we see the boy hesitate to use a bolt gun on a animal at the family property. Leroy reprimands him for hesitating and offers an metaphor that results in a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this world. You can be in the open like we are, or you can be in there,” Leroy says as he gestures to the creature. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. Except you will be unaware it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

Looking back, this could be a bit of prediction, something he regrets not imparting to his own son. Perhaps he wishes he had acted differently in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the sickening allure of the town.