🔗 Share this article

The clown's impact on the young residents of Welcome to Derry shapes them throughout their adult lives, twisting them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the community's pattern of animosity alive. It finds easy targets on children from fractured homes — children who frequently mature to replicate the identical behaviors as their guardians. But, the Hanlon household stands apart as a rare example of a households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike, even after choosing to stay in the town, remains the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Distinctive Resilience

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy at last grows increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, particularly when It starts haunting his son, Will, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon clan comprises a small number of grown-ups who are cognizant that things are not right with the municipality, especially Leroy, who was shown to be receptive to the Shining when he was capable of sensing Dick Hallorann's employment of it in episode 3. Later, Leroy sees one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his residence. The ability, coupled with his failure to feel fear, along with the base of his family, may be why he's able to see the entity's manifestations. However, consider if that shining is hereditary, and one of the reasons Mike is among the few individuals in the town who resisted succumbing to its cruelty?

Will is a member of the group of children at his educational institution being terrorized by the clown. His classmates come from broken homes, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being targeted. The cause Will is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the community, paired with his likely receptiveness to psychic abilities, which renders him vulnerable. This family are ultimately strangers in Derry during 1962, which lends itself towards the household feeling something is off about the locality from the onset. They also have a solid base that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who originate in the town, with bonds that have deteriorated internally.

Backstory Connections

Based on the original book, we understand the young Will Hanlon will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the local KKK members of Derry will ignite. In the 2017 movie, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy surviving his own child and taking his grandson in. The official story in the motion picture is that the parents were on drugs, but given our current view of him in the series, that's difficult to accept. Perhaps the timid boy, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to rid himself of the torments, or maybe the corrupt environment got to him first, with the hate group eventually completing the job it began years ago. Whether through the terror of Pennywise or through the malice of the community, seeded by It, the creature in the end gets the final victory on him.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would explain how the elder Hanlon transforms so drastically from what we see in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his older age, Leroy seems bitter and much harsher with his parenting. Since he survived his own offspring, it's understandable to see such a drastic change. Nonetheless, his words carry more weight since we are aware he's seen Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they had on his child. In the initial sequence of It, we see the boy hesitate to use a stunning device on a sheep at the family property. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and offers an metaphor that leads to a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this world. You can be in the open like us, or you can be trapped inside,” he states as he gestures to the creature. “You waste time hemming and hawing, and another is going to decide for you. Except you won't know it until you feel that bolt between your eyes.”

Looking back, this could represent a bit of foreshadowing, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Perhaps he desires he had acted differently in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the sickening allure of the town.