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Pennywise's impact on the young residents of the Derry series molds them throughout their adult lives, twisting them into the exact individuals who keep the community's pattern of hatred alive. It finds easy targets on children from broken households — children who frequently mature to replicate the same patterns as their parents. But, the Hanlon family stands apart as a rare example of a households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike, even after electing to remain in the town, remains the only Loser who never fully falls under Pennywise's sway.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resistance

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy Hanlon at last grows increasingly conscious of the paranormal entities enveloping the neighborhood, especially when the entity starts haunting his son, Will Hanlon, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family consists of some of the few grown-ups who are aware that something is amiss with the municipality, especially Leroy, who was revealed to be sensitive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect a fellow psychic's use of it in episode 3. Subsequently, he sees one of Pennywise's signature balloons outside his residence. This gift, alongside his failure to feel fear, along with the base of his household, could be why he's able to see the entity's manifestations. But what if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and a key factor Mike is among the few individuals in Derry who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

The boy is part of the collective of kids at his school being tormented by the clown. His classmates hail from dysfunctional families, with parents who don't believe they're being haunted. The cause Will is being pursued is due to the cruelty of the town, paired with his likely receptiveness to psychic abilities, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are ultimately strangers in Derry during 1962, which lends itself towards the family sensing something is off about the town from the onset. They also have a solid base that remains unbroken, in contrast to the folks who originate in the town, with bonds that have decayed within.

Historical Context

Drawing from the It novel, we understand the young Will Hanlon will end up at the Black Spot, where the psychic will rescue him from a fire that the local KKK members of Derry will cause. In the recent film, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that the father ultimately dies in a fire, with his father surviving his own child and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the motion picture is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but given our current view of him in the series, that's hard to believe. Maybe the shy youth, once he became an adult, leaned into alcohol to rid himself of the hauntings, or perhaps the rotten environment got to him initially, with the KKK eventually finishing the job it started years ago. Be it via the fear of the entity or through the cruelty of the town, instigated by It, the creature eventually achieves the last laugh on Will.

Leroy's Transformation

These occurrences would clarify how the elder Hanlon changes so radically from what we see in It: Chapter 1 and Welcome to Derry. In his older age, Leroy appears bitter and much stricter with his parenting. Since he outlived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to observe such a profound shift. However, his statements 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 observe the boy pause to use a stunning device on a animal at Leroy's farm. His grandfather chastises him for hesitating and provides an metaphor that results in a survival-of-the-fittest situation.

“You have two options you can be in this existence. You can be in the open like us, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he points to the sheep. “You waste time indecisive, and another is going to make that choice. But you won't know it until you feel that bolt in your head.”

Looking back, this could be a piece of foreshadowing, something he wishes he had told his own child. Maybe he wishes he had done something in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of Derry.