🔗 Share this article

The clown's influence on the young residents of the Derry series shapes them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the very adults who perpetuate the town's cycle of animosity alive. The creature finds easy targets on children from fractured homes — youngsters who often grow up to replicate the identical behaviors as their parents. However, the Hanlon household stands apart as a rare example of a family unit that remains intact, which could clarify why Mike, even after choosing to stay in Derry, persists as the only Loser who never fully falls under Pennywise's sway.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resilience

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy at last grows increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, especially when the entity starts haunting his child, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon family consists of a small number of grown-ups who are aware that something is amiss with the municipality, especially the father, who was revealed to be sensitive to psychic abilities when he was capable of sensing Dick Hallorann's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, Leroy sees one of the clown's trademark balloons outside his house. This gift, alongside his failure to feel fear, along with the foundation of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and a key factor Mike Hanlon is among the few individuals in the town who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

The boy is a member of the group of kids at his school being tormented by Pennywise. All his school friends come from broken homes, with parents who don't believe they're being haunted. The reason he is being pursued is due to the viciousness of the community, combined with his likely receptiveness to shine, which makes him susceptible. This family are ultimately strangers in Derry during 1962, which contributes towards the household sensing something is off about the town from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that remains unbroken, unlike the residents who originate in the town, with bonds that have decayed internally.

Backstory Connections

Drawing from the It novel, we understand the juvenile 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 cause. In the 2017 movie, we see that he has a boy named Mike and that the father ultimately dies in a fire, with his father surviving his own son and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the film is that the parents were on drugs, but given our current view of him in the series, that's hard to believe. Maybe the shy boy, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to free himself of the hauntings, or maybe the corrupt town affected him first, with the hate group eventually completing the task it started long before. Be it via the fear of the entity or through the cruelty of the community, seeded by It, the creature in the end gets the final victory on him.

The Father's Evolution

These occurrences would clarify how Leroy transforms so radically from what we witness in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his older age, he appears bitter and much stricter with his parenting. Since he survived his own offspring, it's understandable to observe such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his statements hold greater significance since we are aware he's seen Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they had on his child. 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 reprimands him for delaying and offers an analogy that results in a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be in the open like we are, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he gestures to the creature. “You waste time indecisive, and someone is going to decide for you. Except you will be unaware it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could represent a bit of prediction, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Maybe he desires he had acted differently in his youth, but for certain factors, he couldn't resist the sickening attraction of Derry.