Pop Culture

How I Met Your Father: Everything We Know About the HIMYM Spinoff Starring Hilary Duff

CBS’s How I Met Your Mother ended more than seven years ago, but fans who miss Robin, Barney, Ted, Lily, and Ted and are also really bummed the Lizzie McGuire reboot didn’t happen are in luck.

Hilary Duff is starring in a How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM)spin-off called How I Met Your Father (HIMYF) a 10-episode comedy series on Hulu. This is the first show Duff is doing after the series end of Younger, which ran for seven seasons.

The pilot episode will be helmed by HIMYM director Pam Fryman, who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how excited she is for the new series.

“My only complaint about my time on HIMYM was that it came to an end,” Fryman said. “I’m so excited to be stepping back into this world I love so much with Carter and Craig. And I’ve been a fan of Isaac, Elizabeth and Hilary from afar — and am thrilled to now get a front row seat to their talent. I feel so lucky to be a part of this.”

Fryman directed 196 out of 208 episodes of the original series. Although some fans had more problems with the show’s finale than just the fact that it ended, they will certainly be happy to see some of the same creative power behind this new project. Original series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas are back, and Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger will be show-runners. The show will be produced by 20th Television and Adam Londy will serve as co-executive producer.

“Kids, I’m going to tell you an incredible story: It’s the story of how two writers got lucky enough to make their dream TV show for nine seasons and now get to pass the torch to an inspired new creative team with their own incredible story to tell, the story of How I Met Your Father,” Bays and Thomas said in a statement per Deadline. “We are honored by their passion and vision, and look forward to helping them tell a legendary new story. Thanks to all the HIMYM fans out there who waited for it.”

Here’s everything we know about the series.

What is Hilary Duff’s role in the show?

Duff will be playing Sophie, who will be telling her son the story of how she met his father. The story starts in 2021 and shows Sophie with her close-knit group of friends, who all live in New York City.

Duff is also a producer on the series.

“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. As a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother, I’m honored and even a little nervous that [HIMYM creators] Carter and Craig would trust me with the sequel of their baby,” Duff said, per Deadline. “[HIMYF creators] Isaac and Elizabeth are brilliant, and I can’t wait to work alongside them and all of their genius. Just fan-girling over here getting to join the Hulu Originals and 20th families. I realize these are big shoes to fill and I’m excited to slip my 6 ½’s in there.”

What will be the show’s format?

The show, which will use both the multi-camera and single-camera methods, will be done in pretty much the same format as the last show. Just as Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) told his kids the ups and downs of dating, working, and cultivating lasting friendships in New York City, Sophie will be telling her son how she did the same.

Her story, however, takes place in the age of social media, dating apps, and even more pressure and distractions because of that. HIMYF’s 2021 debut will look pretty different than HIMYM’s 2006 launch, which leads to another question: Will COVID-19 get a mention? One day we’ll all be telling our kids about the days of quarantine, masks, and social distancing.

Will Sophie write the pandemic into her NYC journey? No answer on that yet, but the Sex and the City and Gossip Girl reboots both mentioned the pandemic that devastated New York City in 2020 (and rages on in the world). There’s a chance this show will, too.

Do we know when the show will air?

No air date has been set for the show yet, but this project has been a long time coming. As Deadline noted, Bays and Thomas wrote a CBS pilot in 2014, but it wasn’t picked up. We might have to have some patience on this one, but now that it’s been ordered, the wait shouldn’t be too long.

For now, the show creators are having a little bit of fun just teasing their audience, per THR: “We hope nobody thinks it’s weird that Bob Saget will be playing old Hilary Duff’s voice.”

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