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Pennywise's influence on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, twisting them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the community's cycle of hatred ongoing. It finds easy targets on kids from broken households — youngsters who frequently grow up to repeat the same patterns as their parents. But, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as one of the few family unit that never splinters, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in the town, remains the sole member who never fully falls under Pennywise's sway.

Hanlon Household's Distinctive Resistance

In the fourth installment of the series, Leroy finally becomes more aware of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, especially when It begins tormenting his son, Will Hanlon, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon family comprises some of the few grown-ups who are aware that things are not right with the town, especially the father, who was revealed to be sensitive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect a fellow psychic's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, he spots one of Pennywise's signature balloons outside his house. The ability, alongside his inability to feel fear, along with the base of his household, may be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that shining is generational, and one of the reasons Mike Hanlon is among the few adults in Derry who didn't lose themselves to the town's malevolence?

The boy is part of the group of kids at his educational institution being tormented by Pennywise. All his school friends come from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who don't believe they're being targeted. The cause he is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the community, paired with his potential sensitivity to shine, which renders him vulnerable. The Hanlons are ultimately outsiders in the town during 1962, which contributes towards the household sensing anomalies exist about the town from the onset. Additionally, they possess a good foundation that isn't fractured, unlike the folks who come from the area, with bonds that have deteriorated internally.

Backstory Connections

Drawing from the It novel, we understand the juvenile Will Hanlon will end up at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will rescue him from a fire that the local KKK members of Derry will ignite. In the 2017 movie, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a configration, with his father surviving his own child and taking his grandson in. The public account 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. Maybe the shy boy, once he became an adult, leaned into drink to rid himself of the torments, or perhaps the rotten town affected him first, with the hate group ultimately completing the job it started years ago. Be it via the terror of the entity or through the malice of the town, instigated by Pennywise, It eventually gets the final victory on him.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would explain how Leroy changes so drastically from what we witness in It: Chapter 1 and the prequel. In his later years, Leroy seems resentful and much stricter with his parenting. Because he outlived his own son, it's understandable to observe such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his words carry more weight now that we know he's witnessed Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they had on his son. In the opening scene of It, we observe Mike hesitate to use a bolt gun on a animal at Leroy's farm. His grandfather reprimands him for hesitating and offers an analogy that results in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

“You have two options 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 waste time hemming and hawing, and another is going to decide for you. But you won't know it until you experience that bolt between your eyes.”

In hindsight, this could be a bit of foreshadowing, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Maybe he desires he had done something in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of Derry.