Welcome to Derry May Have Solved a Lingering It Enigma

The clown's impact on the young residents of the Derry series shapes them long into adulthood, transforming them into the very adults who keep the town's pattern of hatred alive. The creature preys most easily on kids from broken households — children who often mature to replicate the same patterns as their parents. But, the Hanlon family stands apart as one of the few family unit that never splinters, which may explain why Mike, even after choosing to stay in Derry, persists as the only Loser who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resistance

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes more aware of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, especially when the entity begins tormenting his child, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family consists of some of the few adults who are aware that something is amiss with the town, especially the father, who was shown to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect a fellow psychic's use of it in episode 3. Later, Leroy spots one of the clown's trademark inflated orbs outside his house. This gift, coupled with his failure to experience terror, combined with the foundation of his family, could be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and one of the reasons Mike Hanlon is among the few adults in the town who didn't lose themselves to the town's malevolence?

The boy is a member of the group of children at his educational institution being tormented by Pennywise. His classmates come from broken homes, with parents who refuse to accept they're being targeted. The reason Will is being pursued is because of the cruelty of the community, combined with his likely receptiveness to shine, which renders him vulnerable. The Hanlons are fundamentally strangers in Derry during 1962, which lends itself towards the family sensing something is off about the town from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that remains unbroken, in contrast to the residents who come from the area, with bonds that have decayed internally.

Historical Context

Based on the It novel, we know the juvenile Will Hanlon will end up at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will rescue him from a fire that the local KKK members of Derry will cause. In the recent film, we see that he has a boy named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a fire, with his father outliving his own child and taking his grandson in. The official story in the film is that the parents were on substances, but given our current view of him in the series, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the timid boy, once he became an adult, leaned into drink to rid himself of the torments, or maybe the corrupt environment affected him first, with the hate group ultimately completing the task it started long before. Be it via the fear of the entity or via the cruelty of the town, instigated by Pennywise, It eventually gets the last laugh on him.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would clarify how Leroy transforms so radically from what we see in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, Leroy seems bitter and much stricter with his discipline. Since he survived his own son, it's comprehensible to see such a profound shift. However, his words carry more weight now that we know he's witnessed Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they had on his child. In the initial sequence of the movie, we observe Mike hesitate to use a bolt gun on a sheep at the family property. His grandfather chastises him for delaying and provides an analogy that results in 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 creature. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and another is going to decide for you. Except you won't know it until you experience that projectile in your head.”

In hindsight, this could represent a bit of foreshadowing, a lesson he wishes he had told his own son. Perhaps he wishes he had acted differently in his past, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the repellent attraction of Derry.