Welcome to Derry Could Have Solved a Lingering Pennywise Mystery

The clown's impact on the young residents of the Derry series molds them throughout their adult lives, twisting them into the exact individuals who keep the town's cycle of hatred ongoing. It finds easy targets on children from fractured households — youngsters who frequently mature to replicate the identical behaviors as their guardians. But, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as a rare example of a households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in the town, remains the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Distinctive Resilience

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes increasingly conscious of the paranormal entities enveloping the community, especially when the entity starts haunting his son, Will Hanlon, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan consists of a small number of grown-ups who are aware that things are not right with the municipality, especially the father, who was shown to be sensitive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect a fellow psychic's use of it in the third episode. Later, he sees one of Pennywise's signature inflated orbs outside his house. The ability, coupled with his failure to experience terror, combined with the base of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving the entity's manifestations. But what if that shining is generational, and a key factor Mike is among the few individuals in the town who didn't lose themselves to the town's malevolence?

Will is part of the collective of kids at his educational institution being terrorized by Pennywise. All his school friends hail from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The reason Will is being haunted is because of the viciousness of the community, paired with his potential sensitivity to shine, which makes him susceptible. This family are ultimately strangers in Derry during the early sixties, which lends itself towards the household sensing something is off about the town from the onset. They also have a solid base that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who come from the area, with relationships that have decayed internally.

Backstory Connections

Based on the It novel, we know the young Will will end up at the Black Spot, where the psychic will save him from a blaze that the town bigots of the community will cause. In the 2017 movie, we see that he has a boy named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a fire, with his father outliving his own son and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the motion picture is that the parents were on substances, but now that we see him in the series, that's difficult to accept. Maybe the shy youth, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to rid himself of the torments, or maybe the rotten town affected him initially, with the KKK eventually finishing the job it began long before. Be it via the fear of the entity or through the malice of the town, instigated by It, the creature eventually achieves the final victory on Will.

The Father's Evolution

These occurrences would explain how Leroy changes so radically from what we witness in It: Chapter 1 and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, he appears resentful and much stricter with his discipline. Because he outlived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to see such a profound shift. However, his statements hold greater significance since we are aware he's seen the clown's activities and the effects they had on his son. In the opening scene of It, we observe Mike hesitate to use a stunning device on a sheep at the family property. Leroy chastises him for delaying and provides an analogy that results in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

“There are two places you can be in this world. You can be out here like us, or you can be trapped inside,” he states as he gestures to the creature. “You dawdle indecisive, and another is going to decide for you. But you will be unaware it until you experience that projectile between your eyes.”

Looking back, this could be a bit of prediction, something he wishes he had told his own son. Perhaps he wishes he had acted differently in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the sickening allure of Derry.