The Derry Chronicles May Have Solved a Lingering Pennywise Mystery

The clown's impact on the young residents of Welcome to Derry molds them throughout their adult lives, twisting them into the exact individuals who keep the community's cycle of animosity ongoing. It finds easy targets on children from broken households — children who often grow up to repeat the same patterns as their guardians. However, the Hanlon household distinguishes itself as one of the few family unit that remains intact, which could clarify why Mike Hanlon, even after electing to remain in Derry, remains the sole member who doesn't completely succumb under the clown's influence.

Hanlon Household's Unique Resistance

In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon at last grows more aware of the paranormal entities enveloping the community, especially when the entity starts haunting his child, Will Hanlon, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon clan consists of a small number of grown-ups who are aware that things are not right with the town, notably the father, who was shown to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect a fellow psychic's use of it in the third episode. Subsequently, Leroy spots one of Pennywise's signature balloons outside his house. The ability, coupled with his failure to experience terror, combined with the foundation of his family, may be why he's capable of perceiving Pennywise's hauntings. But what if that psychic sensitivity is generational, and a key factor Mike Hanlon is one of the only individuals in Derry who didn't lose themselves to its cruelty?

The boy is a member of the group of children at his educational institution being terrorized by Pennywise. All his school friends come from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who don't believe they're being haunted. The cause he is being haunted is because of the viciousness of the town, combined with his potential sensitivity to shine, which makes him susceptible. This family are fundamentally outsiders in Derry during 1962, which lends itself towards the family feeling anomalies exist about the locality from the onset. They also have a good foundation that isn't fractured, unlike the residents who originate in the town, with relationships that have decayed internally.

Backstory Connections

Based on the original book, we know the young Will will find himself at the infamous nightclub, where the psychic will rescue him from a fire that the local KKK members of Derry will ignite. In the recent movie, we see that Will has a son named Mike and that the father eventually perishes in a configration, with his father outliving his own child and taking his grandson in. The public account in the film is that Mike's parents were on drugs, but now that we see him in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Maybe the timid boy, once he grew up, leaned into alcohol to rid himself of the torments, or maybe the rotten environment got to him first, with the KKK ultimately completing the task it started long before. Be it via the terror of the entity or via the malice of the town, seeded by It, the creature eventually achieves the last laugh on Will.

The Father's Evolution

This chain of events would explain how Leroy changes so drastically from what we see in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his later years, Leroy seems bitter and much harsher with his discipline. Because he outlived his own offspring, it's understandable to observe such a profound shift. However, his words carry more weight since we are aware he's seen the clown's activities and the impacts they wrought upon his child. In the opening scene of the movie, we observe Mike hesitate to use a bolt gun on a animal at Leroy's farm. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and provides an analogy that leads to a survival-of-the-fittest scenario.

“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be in the open like us, or you can be in there,” he states as he points to the creature. “You waste time hemming and hawing, and someone is going to decide for you. But you will be unaware it until you experience that bolt in your head.”

Looking back, this could represent a bit of foreshadowing, something he regrets not imparting to his own child. Perhaps he wishes he had done something in his youth, but for some reason, he was unable to avoid the sickening allure of the town.