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The clown's influence on the young residents of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, twisting them into the very adults who keep the town's pattern of hatred alive. The creature preys most easily on children from broken homes — children who frequently grow up to repeat the identical behaviors as their parents. But, the Hanlon household stands apart as one of the few family unit that remains intact, which may explain why Mike, even after electing to remain in the town, remains the only Loser who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resilience

In the fourth installment of Welcome to Derry, Leroy at last grows increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the neighborhood, especially when the entity starts haunting his son, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family comprises a small number of grown-ups who are aware that something is amiss with the town, especially the father, who was revealed to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was capable of sensing Dick Hallorann's employment of it in episode 3. Later, Leroy sees one of Pennywise's signature inflated orbs outside his residence. This gift, coupled with his failure to feel fear, combined with the foundation of his household, may be why he's capable of perceiving the entity's manifestations. But what if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and one of the reasons Mike is one of the only adults in the town who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

Will is part of the collective of kids at his educational institution being terrorized by the clown. All his school friends come from broken homes, with caregivers who don't believe they're being haunted. The reason Will is being pursued is due to the viciousness of the community, combined with his potential sensitivity to shine, which renders him vulnerable. This family are fundamentally strangers in the town during the early sixties, which contributes towards the family sensing something is off about the town from the onset. They also have a good foundation that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who originate in the town, with relationships that have decayed internally.

Historical Context

Based on the It novel, we understand the juvenile Will will end up at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will rescue him from a blaze that the town bigots of the community will ignite. In the recent movie, we observe that he has a boy named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a configration, with his father outliving his own son and taking his grandson in. The official story in the motion picture is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but given our current view of him in the series, that's difficult to accept. Maybe the shy boy, once he grew up, leaned into alcohol to free himself of the torments, or perhaps the rotten environment got to him initially, with the KKK ultimately finishing the task it started long before. Whether through the fear of Pennywise or via the cruelty of the community, seeded by It, the creature eventually achieves the final victory on Will.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would clarify how the elder Hanlon transforms so radically from what we see in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, Leroy seems bitter and much stricter with his discipline. Since he survived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to see such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his words hold greater significance since we are aware he's witnessed the clown's activities and the impacts they had on his son. In the initial sequence of It, we observe Mike hesitate to use a stunning device on a animal at Leroy's farm. Leroy reprimands him for hesitating and offers an analogy that results in a kill-or-be-killed scenario.

“You have two options you can be in this existence. You can be out here like us, or you can be in there,” Leroy states as he points to the creature. “You waste time hemming and hawing, and someone is going to decide for you. But you won't know it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

Looking back, this could be a piece of prediction, something he regrets not imparting to his own child. Maybe he desires he had acted differently in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the sickening allure of Derry.