🔗 Share this article

Pennywise's impact on the young residents of Welcome to Derry shapes them throughout their adult lives, twisting them into the very adults who keep the town's cycle of animosity alive. The creature preys most easily on kids from fractured homes — youngsters who frequently mature to replicate the same patterns as their parents. However, the Hanlon household stands apart as a rare example of a family unit that never splinters, which could clarify why Mike Hanlon, even after choosing to stay in the town, persists as the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resistance

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes more aware of the supernatural forces surrounding the community, particularly when It starts haunting his son, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan comprises some of the few grown-ups who are cognizant that something is amiss with the municipality, notably Leroy, who was revealed to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect Dick Hallorann's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, Leroy spots one of Pennywise's signature balloons outside his house. This gift, alongside his inability to experience terror, combined with the foundation of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that shining is generational, and one of the reasons Mike is one of the only adults in Derry who resisted succumbing to its cruelty?

Will is part of the collective of kids at his school being terrorized by Pennywise. His classmates hail from broken homes, with parents who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The reason he is being haunted is because of the cruelty of the town, combined with his potential sensitivity to shine, which renders him vulnerable. The Hanlons are ultimately strangers in Derry during 1962, which lends itself towards the family feeling something is off about the town from the onset. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that remains unbroken, in contrast to the residents who come from the area, with bonds that have deteriorated internally.

Historical Context

Based on the It novel, we understand the young Will Hanlon will end up at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will rescue him from a blaze that the town bigots of Derry will cause. In the recent movie, we see that he has a boy named Mike and that the father ultimately dies in a configration, with his father surviving his own son and adopting his grandchild. The official story in the film is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but now that we see Will in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Maybe the timid youth, once he became an adult, leaned into drink to free himself of the torments, or maybe the corrupt environment got to him initially, with the hate group eventually completing the task it started years ago. Be it via the terror of the entity or via the malice of the community, instigated by Pennywise, the creature eventually achieves the last laugh on him.

Leroy's Transformation

These occurrences would explain how Leroy transforms so radically from what we see in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his older age, he appears bitter and much stricter with his parenting. Since he outlived his own offspring, it's understandable to observe such a profound shift. However, his statements carry more weight now that we know he's seen Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they had on his son. In the initial sequence of It, we observe the boy pause to use a bolt gun on a sheep at the family property. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and offers an analogy that leads to a kill-or-be-killed 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,” he states as he points to the sheep. “You waste time indecisive, and another is going to decide for you. But you will be unaware it until you experience that projectile between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could represent a piece of foreshadowing, something he regrets not imparting to his own son. Perhaps he desires he had acted differently in his youth, but for some reason, he couldn't resist the repellent attraction of the town.