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The clown's impact on the children of Welcome to Derry molds them long into adulthood, transforming them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the community's cycle of hatred ongoing. It preys most easily on kids from fractured households — youngsters who frequently mature to replicate the identical behaviors as their parents. However, the Hanlon household stands apart as one of the few households that never splinters, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after choosing to stay in the town, remains the only Loser who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resistance

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy Hanlon at last grows more aware of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, particularly when the entity starts haunting his child, Will Hanlon, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family consists of some of the few adults who are aware that something is amiss with the municipality, notably Leroy, who was shown to be sensitive to the Shining when he was capable of sensing Dick Hallorann's employment of it in the third episode. Subsequently, he sees one of Pennywise's signature inflated orbs outside his residence. The ability, coupled with his failure to experience terror, along with the base of his household, could be why he's capable of perceiving the entity's manifestations. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and a key factor Mike Hanlon is among the few adults in the town who resisted succumbing to the town's malevolence?

Will is part of the collective of kids at his school being tormented by the clown. All his school friends hail from broken homes, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The cause Will is being pursued is because of the cruelty of the town, combined with his potential sensitivity to shine, which renders him vulnerable. This family are fundamentally strangers in the town during 1962, which lends itself towards the household sensing anomalies exist about the locality from the beginning. They also have a good foundation that remains unbroken, unlike the residents who come from the area, with relationships that have deteriorated internally.

Backstory Connections

Drawing from the It novel, we know the young Will Hanlon will find himself at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the town bigots of the community will cause. In the 2017 film, we observe that Will has a boy named Mike and that Will ultimately dies in a configration, with his father outliving his own son and taking his grandson in. The official story in the film is that the parents were on drugs, but given our current view of Will in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the shy boy, once he became an adult, leaned into alcohol to free himself of the torments, or perhaps the corrupt environment affected him first, with the KKK ultimately completing the task it began long before. Be it via the terror of Pennywise or via the cruelty of the town, instigated by It, the creature in the end gets the last laugh on Will.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would clarify how Leroy transforms so radically from what we see in It: Chapter 1 and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, he appears resentful and much stricter with his parenting. Because he survived his own son, it's comprehensible to see such a drastic change. However, his words hold greater significance now that we know he's seen the clown's activities and the impacts they had on his child. In the initial sequence of It, we observe the boy pause to use a stunning device on a sheep at Leroy's farm. Leroy chastises him for hesitating and offers an metaphor that results in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

“You have two options you can be in this existence. You can be out here like we are, or you can be in there,” Leroy states as he points to the creature. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and someone is going to decide for you. Except you won't know it until you experience that projectile in your head.”

Looking back, this could be a piece of prediction, a lesson he regrets not imparting to his own child. Perhaps he desires he had acted differently in his youth, but for certain factors, he was unable to avoid the sickening allure of Derry.