CBS’s How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) ended more than seven years ago, but fans who miss Robin, Barney, Ted, Lily, and Ted—and are also really bummed the Lizzie McGuire Disney+ reboot didn’t happen—are in luck. Hilary Duff is starring in a How I Met Your Mother 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 directed 196 out of 208 episodes of the original series. Although many fans had problems with the show’s finale, they will certainly be happy to see much 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.
“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.”
As speculation abounds, here’s everything we know so far about HIMYF.
What is Duff’s role in the show?
Duff will be playing Sophie, the show’s protagonist and narrator, telling her son the story of how she met his father. The plot begins in 2021 and depicts Sophie with her close-knit group of friends, who all live—where else?—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. “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 ½s in there.”
What will be the show’s format?
HIMYF will use both multi-camera and single-camera methods, in much the same way as the original. Just as Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) walked his kids through the ups and downs of dating, working, and cultivating lasting friendships in Manhattan, Sophie will tell her son how she did the same.
Her story, however, takes place in the age of social media and dating apps. HIMYF’s 2021 debut will look pretty different than HIMYM’s 2006 launch, which leads to another question: Will COVID-19 get a mention? 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.
Who’s in the cast, other than Duff?
We finally know who will round out the core of Sophie’s friend group. Francia Raisa (Grown-ish) will play Sophie’s roommate, Valentina, a dear friend and stylist who’s recently returned to New York from London Fashion Week, toting a new British boyfriend named Charlie. “She’s impulsive and adventurous, and Sophie relies on Valentina’s ability to cheer her up when she gets down,” Deadline reports.
Tom Ainsley (Versailles) will tackle Valentina’s boyfriend, Charlie, a model who’s been “living in a rich person’s bubble his whole life” as the son of conservative aristocrats.
Next, Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars) plays Jesse, an Uber driver and aspiring musician who lives with his best friend. Suraj Sharma (Wedding Season) will play this best friend, named Sid, a bar owner and Jesse’s roommate.
Finally, Tien Tran (Space Force) will play Jesse’s adopted sister, Ellen, who hopped a plane to New York from a small farming town after ending a relationship with her wife.
Do we know when the show will air?
No air date has been set yet, but this project has been a long time coming. As Deadline noted, Bays and Thomas wrote a CBS pilot of HIMYF 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.”
Hilary Weaver
Hilary Weaver is a freelance writer based in New York who writes about politics, queer issues, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, and every woman the Queen has ever made a dame.
Lauren Puckett-Pope
Associate Editor
Lauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers news and culture.
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