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Pennywise's influence on the children of the Derry series molds them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the very adults who perpetuate the community's cycle of hatred alive. The creature preys most easily on children from broken households — youngsters who frequently mature to repeat the same patterns as their guardians. However, the Hanlon household stands apart as one of the few households that remains intact, which could clarify why Mike Hanlon, even after choosing to stay in the town, persists as the sole member who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Distinctive Resistance

In the fourth installment of Welcome to Derry, Leroy finally becomes more aware of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, especially when the entity begins tormenting his son, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family consists of a small number of grown-ups who are cognizant that things are not right with the municipality, notably Leroy, who was revealed to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was capable of sensing a fellow psychic's employment of it in episode 3. Subsequently, he sees one of Pennywise's signature balloons outside his residence. The ability, alongside his inability to experience terror, combined with the base of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. But what 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?

Will is part of the collective of children at his educational institution being terrorized by Pennywise. All his school friends come from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being targeted. The cause Will is being haunted is because of the viciousness of the town, combined with his potential sensitivity to psychic abilities, which makes him susceptible. This family are ultimately strangers in the town during the early sixties, which lends itself towards the household feeling anomalies exist about the town from the beginning. They also have a solid base that remains unbroken, unlike the residents who come from the area, with relationships that have deteriorated internally.

Backstory Connections

Based on the original book, we understand the young Will will end up at the Black Spot, where the psychic will save him from a blaze that the local KKK members of the community will cause. In the 2017 film, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy surviving his own child and taking his grandson in. The public account in the motion picture is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but now that we see Will in the series, that's hard to believe. Maybe the timid boy, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to free himself of the hauntings, or perhaps the corrupt town got to him initially, with the KKK eventually completing the job it started long before. Be it via the fear of the entity or through the malice of the town, seeded by Pennywise, the creature in the end achieves the final victory on Will.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would clarify how Leroy changes so radically from what we see in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his older age, he seems bitter and much harsher with his discipline. Because he survived 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 initial sequence of the movie, we observe the boy pause to use a stunning device on a sheep at Leroy's farm. Leroy chastises him for hesitating and provides an analogy that results in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be in the open like us, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he gestures to the creature. “You waste time indecisive, and someone is going to make that choice. Except you won't know it until you feel that bolt in your head.”

In hindsight, this could represent a bit 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 was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of Derry.