Grab your yellow umbrella! After plenty of speculation, a How I Met Your Mother spinoff was finally confirmed in April 2021 and diehard fans are convinced it will be legen — wait for it — dary.
Affectionately referred to as HIMYM, the CBS series came to a close after nine seasons in March 2014 — and its controversial finale continued to spark debates online for years to come. Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor, Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel starred in the original series, with Bob Saget narrating.
Shortly after the end of HIMYM, creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas teamed up with Greta Gerwig and writer Emily Spivey to work on a pilot for a follow-up series titled How I Met Your Dad. Though audiences were eager to see what the next chapter would bring, the show was not picked up.
It wasn’t for another seven years that fans got their wish and an official HIMYM spinoff was announced. Hilary Duff, who previously fought for a Lizzie McGuire revival, nabbed the starring role in Hulu’s How I Met Your Father in April 2021. She also scored a producing credit.
“I’ve been incredibly lucky in my career to play some wonderful characters and I’m looking forward to taking on the role of Sophie,” the Younger alum told Deadline at the time. “As a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother, I’m honored and even a little nervous that Carter and Craig would trust me with the sequel of their baby. [Showrunners] Isaac [Aptaker] and Elizabeth [Berger] are brilliant, and I can’t wait to work alongside them and all of their genius. … I realize these are big shoes to fill and I’m excited to slip my [feet] in there.”
Aptaker and Berger, who worked together on NBC’s This Is Us, later told The Hollywood Reporter that they were “so honored to be carrying the torch” for the new series. “We can’t wait for audiences to meet Sophie and her crew, and watch them come into their own and find love in modern-day New York City,” the dynamic duo noted. “And we hope nobody thinks it’s weird that Bob Saget will be playing old Hilary Duff’s voice.”
No hints have been as to who might actually take over the narration of Sophie’s journey, but the spinoff is sure to pay homage to HIMYM without being an exact copy. However, longtime fans shouldn’t expect any OG stars to make a cameo.
“I have given How I Met Your Mother very little thought,” Harris teased in March 2018, telling TV Guide that “chapter is so complete and full of story” and the entire team was proud of their “final lap.”
The Glee alum continued, “I really just look back on that chapter with great fondness. I just don’t feel like there’s anything left to do, really.”
Radnor, for his part, has been trying to put his HIMYM days behind him. “I almost never think about [the show],” he told GQ in March 2018. “It’s a weird thing, when you haven’t done something in almost four years. But people will still come up to me and say, ‘I just watched the series for the eighth time, all the way through.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s too much. You’ve gotta move on.’ … It’s such a part of certain people’s lives.”
Scroll down for all the details on HIMYF so far:
How I Met Your Father is set to premiere on Hulu January 18, 2022. Monty Brinton/CBS
Inspired by the iconic aughts series, HIMYF will follow Sophie (Duff) as she attempts to tell her son how she met his father. Navigating the ups and downs of dating apps and modern relationships, Sophie and her closest friends discover themselves as they search for true love. Alan Hess/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
In August 2021, Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran and Surah Sharma were revealed as Duff's costars. They join previously announced series regular Chris Lowell. Later that month, Josh Peck joined the series and Daniel Augustin replaced Brandon Micheal Hall as Duff's love interest. John Salangsang/Shutterstock; Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup/Shutterstock
"Who’s ready for us??? We may or may not have been sitting in front of a certain someones apartment…. #himyf," Duff wrote via Instagram alongside a photo of the main cast members hanging out on set in August 2021. Courtesy Hilary Duff/Instagram
The Grownish alum spoke with E! News in September 2021 about working with the Hulu creators to showcase her Latinx heritage in her character. "I'm excited for youngins to see, 'Oh, she looks like me. Oh, she's playing second generation. OK, so it's not a bad thing that I can't speak Spanish or that I have white friends,' because I was judged a lot growing up for having white friends and my Latin friends would call me whitewashed,” RaÃsa told the outlet. “So trying to figure out a way to break barriers, open conversation and have other Latinos, Latinx people growing up saying, 'I can do this too, and it's OK that I'm this way and that way and maybe not this way.’” The California native also teased that she was “so happy” with the scripts she has read so far, calling them “hilarious.” John Photography/Shutterstock
In November 2021, the streaming service announced that the Sex and the City alum will be part of the series as the narrator, who is also the older version of Duff's Sophie. Frank Micelotta/Fox/Picturegroup/Shutterstock
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