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Pennywise's influence on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, transforming them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the town's pattern of animosity alive. It preys most easily on kids from fractured homes — children who frequently grow up to repeat the identical behaviors as their parents. But, the Hanlon family stands apart as one of the few households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the only Loser who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resistance

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes more aware of the paranormal entities surrounding the neighborhood, particularly when the entity starts haunting his son, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan consists of a small number of grown-ups who are aware that things are not right with the municipality, especially Leroy, who was revealed to be receptive to the Shining when he was able to detect Dick Hallorann's employment of it in the third episode. Later, Leroy sees one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his house. This gift, alongside his inability 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 one of the reasons Mike is among the few adults in Derry who didn't lose themselves to the town's malevolence?

Will is a member of the collective of kids at his school being tormented by Pennywise. His classmates come from broken homes, with caregivers who don't believe they're being targeted. The cause he is being pursued is due to the viciousness of the community, combined with his likely receptiveness to psychic abilities, which renders him vulnerable. This family are ultimately strangers in Derry during the early sixties, which lends itself towards the household feeling something is off about the locality from the onset. They also have a solid base that remains unbroken, in contrast to the residents who originate in the town, with bonds that have decayed internally.

Backstory Connections

Based on the It novel, we understand the young Will will end up at the Black Spot, where the psychic will rescue him from a blaze that the town bigots of Derry will cause. In the 2017 movie, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that the father ultimately dies in a fire, with Leroy outliving his own son and taking his grandson in. The official story in the motion picture is that Mike's parents were on substances, but given our current view of him in Welcome to Derry, that's difficult to accept. Maybe the shy boy, once he grew up, turned to drink to rid himself of the torments, or perhaps the corrupt town affected him first, with the hate group ultimately finishing the job it began long before. Whether through the fear of the entity or via the malice of the town, instigated by Pennywise, It in the end achieves the final victory on Will.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would clarify how the elder Hanlon changes so drastically from what we see in the first film and the prequel. In his older age, Leroy appears bitter and much stricter with his parenting. Because he outlived his own son, it's comprehensible to see such a drastic change. Nonetheless, his words carry more weight now that we know he's seen the clown's activities and the effects they had on his son. In the opening scene of the movie, we observe Mike hesitate to use a bolt gun on a sheep at Leroy's farm. His grandfather chastises him for hesitating and offers an analogy that leads to a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be in the open like we are, or you can be trapped inside,” he says as he gestures to the sheep. “You waste time indecisive, and someone is going to decide for you. But you won't know it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could represent a piece of prediction, a lesson he wishes he had told his own son. Maybe he desires he had acted differently in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the repellent allure of the town.