The Derry Chronicles May Have Unraveled a Lingering Pennywise Mystery

The clown's impact on the children of the Derry series shapes them throughout their adult lives, transforming them into the very adults who keep the town's pattern of hatred alive. It preys most easily on kids from broken households — youngsters who frequently grow up to replicate the same patterns as their guardians. However, the Hanlon family stands apart as one of the few households that remains intact, which may explain why Mike Hanlon, even after choosing to stay in the town, remains the only Loser who doesn't completely succumb under Pennywise's sway.

The Hanlon Family's Unique Resilience

In episode 4 of the series, Leroy Hanlon finally becomes more aware of the paranormal entities enveloping the community, especially when It starts haunting his child, Will Hanlon, during their angling excursion. The Hanlon clan consists of a small number of adults who are aware 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 use of it in episode 3. Later, he sees one of the clown's trademark inflated orbs outside his residence. This gift, alongside his inability to feel fear, combined with the base of his family, could be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. However, consider if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and one of the reasons Mike is one of the only individuals in the town who resisted succumbing to its cruelty?

Will is part of the group of kids at his educational institution being terrorized by Pennywise. His classmates hail from dysfunctional families, with parents who don't believe they're being haunted. The cause Will is being haunted is due to the cruelty of the town, paired with his potential sensitivity to shine, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are fundamentally strangers in the town during 1962, which contributes towards the family feeling anomalies exist about the town from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a solid base that isn't fractured, in contrast to the residents who come from the town, with bonds that have decayed internally.

Backstory Connections

Based on the It novel, we know the young Will Hanlon will end up at the infamous nightclub, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the town bigots of Derry will ignite. In the 2017 movie, we see that Will has a boy named Mike and that Will ultimately dies in a configration, with his father surviving his own child and adopting his grandchild. The official story in the film is that the parents were on substances, but now that we see Will in Welcome to Derry, that's difficult to accept. Perhaps the timid youth, once he became an adult, turned to alcohol to free himself of the hauntings, or maybe the corrupt town affected him initially, with the KKK ultimately completing the task it started long before. Be it via the terror of the entity or via the cruelty of the town, seeded by It, It in the end gets the final victory on him.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would explain how the elder Hanlon transforms so drastically from what we witness in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his older age, Leroy seems bitter and much harsher with his discipline. Because he survived his own son, it's comprehensible to observe such a drastic change. Nonetheless, his words hold greater significance now that we know he's witnessed the clown's activities and the impacts they wrought upon his son. In the opening scene of the movie, we observe the boy hesitate to use a bolt gun on a sheep at Leroy's farm. His grandfather chastises him for hesitating and provides an metaphor that leads to a kill-or-be-killed scenario.

“You have two options you can be in this world. You can be out here like us, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he gestures to the sheep. “You dawdle 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 piece of prediction, something he regrets not imparting to his own child. Maybe he wishes he had done something in his past, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the repellent attraction of Derry.