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The clown's impact on the young residents of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, transforming them into the very adults who perpetuate the town's cycle of animosity ongoing. The creature finds easy targets on children from fractured homes — children who frequently mature to repeat the identical behaviors as their parents. However, the Hanlon household stands apart as one of the few family unit that never splinters, which could clarify why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the only Loser who never fully falls under Pennywise's sway.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resilience

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy finally becomes increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces surrounding the neighborhood, particularly when the entity starts haunting his son, Will Hanlon, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family comprises a small number of grown-ups who are cognizant that something is amiss with the town, especially the father, who was revealed to be receptive to the Shining when he was able to detect Dick Hallorann's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, he sees one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his house. The ability, alongside his failure to feel fear, combined with the foundation of his household, could be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and one of the reasons Mike Hanlon is one of the only individuals in Derry who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

The boy is part of the group of children at his school being tormented by the clown. All his school friends hail from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The cause Will is being pursued is because of the cruelty of the town, paired with his likely receptiveness to shine, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are ultimately outsiders in Derry during the early sixties, which lends itself towards the family feeling anomalies exist about the town from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that isn't fractured, unlike the residents who come from the town, with bonds that have deteriorated internally.

Historical Context

Drawing from the It novel, we understand the young Will Hanlon will find himself at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will rescue him from a fire that the local KKK members of Derry will ignite. In the recent film, we see that he has a son named Mike and that Will ultimately dies in a fire, with Leroy outliving his own son and taking his grandson in. The public account in the film is that the parents were on drugs, but now that we see him in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the timid boy, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to free himself of the torments, or maybe the corrupt town got to him first, with the KKK eventually completing the task it started long before. Be it via the terror of the entity or through the cruelty of the community, seeded by It, the creature eventually gets the final victory on Will.

Leroy's Transformation

These occurrences would clarify how the elder Hanlon changes so drastically from what we witness in the first film and the prequel. In his later years, Leroy appears bitter and much stricter with his discipline. Because he outlived his own offspring, it's understandable to observe such a profound shift. However, his statements hold greater significance now that we know he's witnessed the clown's activities and the effects they had on his child. In the opening scene of the movie, we observe Mike hesitate to use a stunning device on a sheep at Leroy's farm. His grandfather chastises him for hesitating and provides an analogy that leads to a kill-or-be-killed situation.

“There are two places you can be in this world. You can be in the open like we are, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he points to the sheep. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. Except you won't know it until you feel that projectile in your head.”

In hindsight, this could be a bit of foreshadowing, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Perhaps he wishes he had done something in his youth, but for some reason, he couldn't resist the repellent allure of Derry.