We’re talking, of course, about Hulu’s HIMYM spinoff, How I Met Your Father. The long-awaited offshoot has weathered numerous incarnations that never made it to air since the HIMYM finale dropped on CBS way back in 2014, but the franchise now aims to deliver a whole, new take on love, dating, romance, and nostalgia—from a female point of view this time around. In the latest development, TV Linehas exclusively reported that Paget Brewster(Criminal Minds) has been cast as Lori, the single mother and former model who had Sophie at a young age. “She makes her debut on the Feb. 8 episode entitled The Good Mom,’ according to TV Line, “when an unexpected visit from Sophie’s mother heightens Valentina’s concern for her best pal.” The HIMYF pilot revealed that Hilary Duff’s Sophie grew up with a “party girl mother,” and Sophie told Jesse in the third episode that she had “a messed-up childhood.” While Brewster is slated to appear in one episode during Season 1, it is possible that she could return if there is a Season 2 of HIMYF. Hulu commissioned How I Met Your Father in April 2021 from producers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, who have been collaborating on the project with original HIMYM creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. “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 joint statement as reported by TV Line. “We are honored by their passion and vision, and look forward to helping them tell a legendary new story.” Ready to bone up on some How I Met Your Father “general knowledge?” Then keep reading to find out everything we know about the How I Met Your Mother spinoff, How I Met Your Father—including the first trailer and when it will premiere!
When does How I Met Your Father premiere?
The series debuted Tuesday, Jan. 18 on Hulu. Hulu tends not to drop an entire season at once, so just the first two episodes were made available on Jan. 18, with a new episode arriving each week after that.
Is there a How I Met Your Father trailer?
There is, and it’s stirred up some “Major Excitement.” The 90-second preview opens with none other than Kim Cattrall, who declares, “This is the story of how I met your father.” Cattrall plays the older version of Duff’s character, who (back in 2022) is tired of Tinder dates, but also believes, “Screw being mature! We can make bad choices for a few more years.”
What is How I Met Your Father about?
The new show’s setup is similar to HIMYM: The main character, Sophie—played by Duff in the present and Cattrall in the future—tells her son the story of how she met his father. According to a Hulu release, that story “catapults us back to the year 2021, where Sophie and her close-knit group of friends are in the midst of figuring out who they are, and what they want out of life and how to fall in the love in the age of dating apps and timeless options.” Playing opposite Duff is Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars and GLOW) as Jesse, described as “smart with a bit of an edge, and cynical about love,” according to TV Line. He is an aspiring musician who works as an Uber driver to make ends meet. While Hulu is mum about many of HIMYF’s other details, Duff told SiriusXM in May 2021 that after she read the script, her reaction was, “Please have them pick me!” She added, “As a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother, I’m honored and I’m even a little nervous that Carter and Craig would trust me with the sequel of their baby.” In fact, the new series takes place in New York, but the studio accommodated Duff by agreeing to film the comedy in L.A. where she lives with husband Matthew Koma and her three kids. Duff also said. “There are great characters and I’m going to have another on-set family and TV family and so many opportunities for love stories.”
Who’s in the How I Met Your Father 2021 cast?
Here are the performers who have been attached to star in HIMYF so far:
Hilary Duff as Sophie on How I Met Your Father
A film and television actress, singer, writer, producer, and entrepreneur, Duff quickly became a teen idol in the title character of the TV series Lizzie McGuire (2001-2004) and the subsequent movie. Her film roles include Cadet Kelly, Agent Cody Banks, A Cinderella Story, and the Cheaper by the Dozen franchise. She has also been an executive producer of several projects that she starred in, including According toGreta, Beauty and the Briefcase and The Haunting of Sharon Tate. Most recently, she starred as Kelsey Peters on TV Land’s longest-running original dramedy Younger, for which she received People’s Choice nominations in 2016 and 2017.
Kim Cattrall as Older Sophie on How I Met Your Father
In the original How I Met Your Mother, Bob Saget famously played the older version of Josh Radnor’s lead character, Ted Mosby, although the former performed his role strictly through voiceovers. However, it seems that in the reboot, the older version of Duff’s character will appear onscreen in a series of flash-forwards—and that the role will be played by none other than former Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall! “She plays all the flash forwards, and she’s just incredible—like, really incredible,” Duff told Entertainment Tonight soon after the casting news broke. “She’s just a force, but she’s so kind. She’s so warm, and I’m so excited to have her on board, truly. It’s a really cool show, and I’m really proud of it and happy to have someone like her stepping on in.” Duff even admitted that she sees the resemblance between the two. “Honestly, we kind of look alike,” she said. “I never realized it, but when we were sitting there, I was like, ‘I can see this, and God, I hope I look like you!’”
Josh Peck as Drew on How I Met Your Father
Another exciting cast addition announced in September 2021? Drake & Josh and Turner & Hooch star, Josh Peck! He’ll be playing the recurring role of a vice principal at the school where Jesse (see below) works.
Chris Lowell as Jesse on How I Met Your Father
An Atlanta native, Lowell’s early passions were theater, filmmaking, and beach volleyball. He was discovered in 2003 during his first major audition, landing the role of Jonathan Fields on the ABC teen drama Life As We Know It, which ran for 13 episodes. He was then cast in the third season of Veronica Mars, opposite Kristen Bell. From 2007-2010, he appeared in the ABC drama PrivatePractice opposite KateWalsh, playing Del, the receptionist for the Oceanside Wellness Group. Lowell also played Stuart Whitworth in The Help.
Francia Raisa as Valentina on How I Met Your Father
Valentina is Sophie’s roommate, an aspiring stylist, and her BFF. “Valentina is impulsive and adventurous and Sophie relies on Valentina’s ability to cheer her up when she gets down,” according to Deadline. “She brings British Charlie back with her from London Fashion Week.” A native of L.A. and a former cheerleader, Francia Raisa began taking acting jobs as a junior in high school, modeling for print ads and appearing in commercials. She guest-starred in the sitcoms American Family: Journey of Dreams and Over There. She is best known for her leading role opposite Hayden Panettiere in Bring It On: All or Nothing, the two Cutting Edge movies, and the hit ABC Family drama, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Other roles include the USA Network’s In Plain Sight, the Freeform show Grown-ish, and Life-Size2, opposite Tyra Banks. An extremely altruistic woman and loving friend, Raisa donated one of her kidneys in 2017 to her friend Selena Gomez, who has lupus.
Tom Ainsley as Charlie on How I Met Your Father
Charlie fell in love with Valentina at London Fashion Week and followed her to New York. The son of conservative aristocrats, Charlie’s a great guy but he’s been living in a rich person’s bubble his whole life. Tom Ainsley, who hails from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, (UK) is best known for his roles as Benoit in Versailles and Nick in The Royals. He is currently based in London. He had leading roles in the Jarhead franchise, Sony’s 2017 thriller Serpent (2017), and Safe Inside (2019).
Tien Tran as Ellen on How I Met Your Father
Ellen, Jesse’s adopted sister just moved to New York from a small farming town after separating from her wife. Ellen’s more comfortable on an organic lettuce field than in a Brooklyn dive bar. Tien Tran is a comedian, actress, and writer from Chicago. She was a writer on both seasons of Showtime’s Work in Progress. She can be seen in Netflix’s Space Force and Easy, IFC’s Sherman’s Showcase, Pop TV’s Hot Date. She has also been featured as part of Comedy Central and Refinery29’s stand-up series Taking the Stage. Tran was named one of the 2019 Just For Laughs New Faces of Comedy. in 2017, she was featured in Comedy Central’s Comics to Watch Chicago Showcase. Also, in 2018, she participated in CBS’ Diversity Showcase and became head writer for the showcase the following year. She is also a veteran member of the prestigious Second City’s Mainstage in Chicago, the training ground for many notable comedians.
Suraj Sharma as Sid on How I Met Your Father
Jesse’s best friend and roommate, Sid’s a new bar owner and an optimist compared to Jesse’s cynicism. With no prior acting experiences, Suraj Sharma, who grew up in New Delhi, India, made his debut in the 2012 movie Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee, adapted from the novel of the same name. He auditioned along with his brother for the role of “Pi” and after several rounds of auditions, he won the role, beating out 3,000 other young men. He earned critical acclaim for this role. In 2014, he portrayed the character of Aayan Ibrahim in season 4 of the Showtime series Homeland, and from 2018-2020 he starred in the CBS series God Friended Me.
Brandon Micheal Hall as Ian on How I Met Your Father
As the handsome, smart and funny Ian, Brandon Micheal Hall plays the guy who matches with Duff’s Sophie on Tinder. Off-camera, HIMYF will also serve as a reunion of sorts between Hall and his former God Friended Me co-star Sharma, according to TVLine. Hall and Sharma played best friends Miles and Rakesh on that series, which aired on CBS from 2018-2020. Hall, a South Carolina native, also starred as the lead of the television series The Mayor (2017), playing an aspiring rapper who inadvertently becomes mayor of his hometown. and before that was a series regular on the TBS dark comedy Search Party. His film roles include Cecile on the Phone, Monster Party, Lez Bomb, and Always a Bridesmaid. Outside of work, Hall donates his time to the group Hashtag Lunchbag Brooklyn, making sandwiches for those less fortunate in Brooklyn, New York.
Who is the father on How I Met Your Father?
That’s obviously going to be a highly guarded secret; in fact, Duff told Parade.com right before the series premiere that even she doesn’t know who the dad is yet—but it’s been promised that whoever it turns out to be, viewers will meet him in HIMYF’s first episode. “She met more than two guys that night, right?” Duff told Parade.com. “She met Charlie (Tom Ainsley), she met Jesse (Chris Lowell), she met Sid (Suraj Sharma). She also met one other person that you’ll find out later. So, there’s a few cute ways that the writers have played with how she met other people that night. And it happens in flashbacks. That’s a little yanking from the original show, where we’re playing with past and present in flashbacks or flash-forwards.”
Is How I Met Your Father a reboot or a revival?
KareyBurke, president of 20th Century Fox Television, says the new show “honors the original and is entirely their own,” while TV Line has called HIMYF a “reimagining” of HIMYM.
Are How I Met Your Father and How I Met Your Dad the same thing?
Actually, no! In November 2013, amid HIMYM’s last season, it was reported that Carter and Bays were teaming up Up All Night creator EmilySpivey to produce How I Met Your Dad—a spinoff that, like HIMYM, was supposed to air on CBS and take place in large part at a New York City bar. Greta Gerwig was set to play the main protagonist, with Meg Ryan voicing that character’s future self a la Bob Saget on HIMYM. However, CBS execs weren’t happy with the HIMYD pilot and ultimately passed on the project in 2014. In July of that year, Bays made it clear on Twitter that How I Met Your Dad wasn’t moving forward at CBS or anywhere else. Two years later, in 2016, headlines started surfacing about a possible new HIMYM spinoff titled How I Met Your Father with Aptaker and Berger attached. However, their commitments to This Is Us prevented HIMYF from moving forward at the time. In 2017, another attempt was made to bring HIMYF to series with a new writer, Alison Bennett, penning a pilot script. However, that version of HIMYF likewise never got off the ground. Now, with This Is Us entering its final season, Aptaker and Berger came back to HIMYF and the show is finally moving forward at Hulu.
How many episodes of How I Met Your Father are there in Season 1?
Season 1 of How I Met Your Father will consist of 10 half-hour episodes.
Which cast members from HIMYM are returning for HIMYF?
As of now, no one from HIMYM is slated to reprise his or her roles on HIMYF, but Duff is optimistic that a cameo or two might come to fruition. “Hopefully,” she told SiriusXM, “we will have some fun guest appearances from the original cast.”
Who are the creators of How I Met Your Father?
This is Us co-showrunners Aptaker and Berger, whose credits include Hulu’s Love Victor, are at the helm of the reboot. They were first attached to HIMYF in 2016, but their commitment to This is Us put a stop to the pilot at that time, according to reports from TV Line.
Where to watch and stream How I Met Your Father Season 1
When it premieres, How I Met Your Father is expected to be exclusively available to stream on Hulu.
Where to stream How I Met Your Mother
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