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The clown's influence on the young residents of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, transforming them into the exact individuals who keep the town's cycle of animosity alive. It finds easy targets on children from broken homes — youngsters who often grow up to repeat the same patterns as their guardians. But, the Hanlon household stands apart as a rare example of a households that never splinters, which may explain why Mike, even after electing to remain in Derry, persists as the sole member who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resilience

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy Hanlon at last grows increasingly conscious of the supernatural forces surrounding the neighborhood, particularly when the entity starts haunting his son, Will, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon clan consists of some of the few adults who are cognizant that things are not right with the municipality, notably Leroy, who was shown to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect Dick Hallorann's employment of it in episode 3. Subsequently, he sees one of Pennywise's signature inflated orbs outside his house. The ability, coupled with his failure to feel fear, along with the base of his family, may be why he's able to see Pennywise's hauntings. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and one of the reasons 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 children at his school being terrorized by Pennywise. His classmates hail from dysfunctional families, with parents who refuse to accept they're being targeted. The reason he is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the town, paired with his likely receptiveness to shine, which makes him susceptible. This family are ultimately outsiders in the town during the early sixties, which lends itself towards the family sensing something is off about the town from the onset. They also have a good foundation that isn't fractured, unlike the folks who come from the town, with relationships that have decayed within.

Historical Context

Drawing from the original book, we know the juvenile Will will end up at the infamous nightclub, where the psychic will rescue him from a blaze that the town bigots of Derry will ignite. In the 2017 movie, we see that he has a boy named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a configration, with his father outliving his own child and adopting his grandchild. The public account in the film is that Mike's parents were on substances, but now that we see him in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Perhaps the timid youth, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to free himself of the torments, or perhaps the rotten environment affected him initially, with the KKK eventually completing the job it began long before. Be it via the fear of the entity or through the cruelty of the town, instigated by It, the creature in the end gets the final victory on him.

Leroy's Transformation

This chain of events would explain how Leroy transforms so radically from what we witness in the first film and the prequel. 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 profound shift. However, his words hold greater significance 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 the boy hesitate to use a stunning device on a sheep at Leroy's farm. Leroy chastises him for hesitating 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 in there,” Leroy says as he gestures to the sheep. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and someone is going to make that choice. But you won't know it until you feel that projectile in your head.”

In hindsight, this could represent a piece of prediction, a lesson he regrets not imparting to his own son. Perhaps he desires he had acted differently in his past, but for some reason, he couldn't resist the sickening attraction of Derry.