🔗 Share this article

Pennywise's influence on the young residents of Welcome to Derry molds them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the exact individuals who keep the town's cycle of hatred ongoing. It preys most easily on children from broken homes — youngsters who often mature to replicate the same patterns as their guardians. But, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as a rare example of a family unit that never splinters, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the sole member who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resilience

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the neighborhood, especially when the entity starts haunting his child, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family consists of some of the few adults who are cognizant that something is amiss with the municipality, especially Leroy, who was revealed to be receptive to the Shining when he was capable of sensing Dick Hallorann's employment of it in the third episode. Later, Leroy sees one of the clown's trademark inflated orbs outside his house. This gift, alongside his inability to experience terror, along with the foundation of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving the entity's manifestations. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and one of the reasons Mike Hanlon is among the few adults in Derry who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

The boy is part of the collective of children at his educational institution being tormented by the clown. His classmates hail from broken homes, with parents who refuse to accept they're being targeted. The cause he is being pursued is due to the viciousness of the town, paired with his potential sensitivity to psychic abilities, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are ultimately strangers in the town during the early sixties, which contributes towards the family sensing something is off about the locality from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who originate in the town, with bonds that have deteriorated internally.

Backstory Connections

Drawing from the original book, we know the young Will will find himself at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the local KKK members of the community will cause. In the recent film, we see that he has a son named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a fire, with his father surviving his own son and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the motion picture is that the parents were on drugs, but now that we see him in the series, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the shy youth, once he became an adult, leaned into drink to rid himself of the hauntings, or perhaps the corrupt town got to him first, with the KKK ultimately completing the job it started years ago. Be it via the terror of Pennywise or through the malice of the town, instigated by Pennywise, It in the end gets the final victory on Will.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would explain how Leroy changes so radically from what we witness in the first film and the prequel. In his later years, he seems bitter and much stricter with his parenting. Since he outlived his own son, it's comprehensible to see such a drastic change. Nonetheless, his statements carry more weight since we are aware he's seen the clown's activities and the effects they wrought upon his son. In the opening scene of the movie, we see Mike pause to use a bolt gun on a sheep at Leroy's farm. His grandfather chastises 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 out here like us, or you can be in there,” Leroy states as he gestures to the sheep. “You waste time hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. Except you will be unaware it until you experience that projectile in your head.”

In hindsight, this could be a bit of prediction, something he wishes he had told his own son. Perhaps he desires he had done something in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the repellent attraction of the town.