🔗 Share this article

The clown's impact on the young residents of the Derry series shapes them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the very adults who keep the town's cycle of animosity ongoing. The creature preys most easily on kids from fractured homes — youngsters who frequently mature to repeat the same patterns as their guardians. However, the Hanlon family stands apart as a rare example of a households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the only Loser who never fully falls under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resilience

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy finally becomes increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces enveloping the community, particularly when It begins tormenting his son, Will, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan consists of a small number of adults who are aware that something is amiss with the municipality, especially Leroy, who was shown to be sensitive to the Shining when he was capable of sensing a fellow psychic's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, Leroy spots one of Pennywise's signature inflated orbs outside his house. This gift, alongside his inability to feel fear, combined with the base of his family, may be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is hereditary, and a key factor Mike is one of the only adults in Derry who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

Will is a member of the group of children at his educational institution being tormented by the clown. All his school friends hail from broken homes, with parents who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The cause Will is being haunted is because of the cruelty of the town, paired with his likely receptiveness to shine, which renders him vulnerable. The Hanlons are ultimately strangers in the town during 1962, which contributes towards the household feeling anomalies exist about the town from the onset. They also have a good foundation that isn't fractured, unlike the residents who originate in the area, with relationships that have decayed within.

Backstory Connections

Based on the It novel, we understand the young Will will find himself at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will rescue him from a blaze that the local KKK members of Derry will ignite. In the 2017 film, we observe that he has a son named Mike and that Will ultimately dies in a configration, with Leroy outliving his own son and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the film is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but now that we see him in the series, that's difficult to accept. Maybe the shy boy, once he became an adult, leaned into drink to free himself of the hauntings, or maybe the rotten environment affected him initially, with the KKK ultimately finishing the job it started long before. Be it via the fear of the entity or via the malice of the community, seeded by It, the creature in the end gets the last laugh on him.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would explain how Leroy changes so radically from what we see in the first film and the prequel. In his later years, Leroy appears resentful and much harsher with his discipline. Since he outlived his own offspring, it's comprehensible to observe such a profound shift. However, his statements hold greater significance since we are aware he's witnessed Pennywise's hauntings and the impacts they wrought upon his child. In the opening scene of It, we observe the boy pause to use a bolt gun on a animal at Leroy's farm. Leroy chastises him for delaying and offers an analogy that results in a survival-of-the-fittest situation.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be out here like us, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy states as he points to the sheep. “You waste time hemming and hawing, and another is going to make that choice. Except you won't know it until you feel that projectile in your head.”

In hindsight, this could be a piece of prediction, something he wishes he had told his own son. Maybe he wishes he had acted differently in his past, but for certain factors, he was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of the town.