‘How I Met Your Father’ Features Hilary Duff and More: Everything We Know About the ‘HIMYM’ Spinoff

Credit: Invision/AP/Shutterstock

'How I Met Your Father' Features Hilary Duff and More: Everything We Know About the 'HIMYM' Spinoff

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." [jwplayer tV7N8JYT-zhNYySv2] 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." HIMYF premiered in January 2022. Scroll down for all the details: [podcast_block]

Credit: Invision/AP/Shutterstock

'How I Met Your Father' Features Hilary Duff and More: Everything We Know About the 'HIMYM' Spinoff

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." [jwplayer tV7N8JYT-zhNYySv2] 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." HIMYF premiered in January 2022. Scroll down for all the details: [podcast_block]

Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS

Release Date

How I Met Your Father premiered on Hulu January 18, 2022. 

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The Lead

Not only will Duff take on the starring role of Sophie, but she's also tackling producing responsibilities. "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," she told Deadline in April 2021.

Credit: Alan Hess/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

The Story

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.

Credit: John Salangsang/Shutterstock; Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup/Shutterstock

The Newbies

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.

Credit: Courtesy Hilary Duff/Instagram

The Cast

"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.

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Francia Raisa Wants to Embrace Her Heritage Onscreen

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,” Raísa 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.”

Credit: Frank Micelotta/Fox/Picturegroup/Shutterstock

Kim Cattrall Joins

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.

Credit: Hulu/YouTube

The Trailer

Hulu released the first look at HIMYF in December 2021, which featured a special appearance by Cattrall in the role of future Sophie. While the original series only featured the voice of adult Ted (voiced by Bob Saget), the new show will actually show the adult version of Sophie.

The video also offered a glimpse at the young Sophie's search for love, with her explaining, "It's really hard to meet someone and connect and have it feel easy," before declaring 2022 as "the first chapter of my next great love story."

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Stealing from 'Mother'

"I think it's important to know that we are our own show," Duff told reporters, including Us Weekly, at a panel for the Television Critics Association in January 2022. "The original show was so amazing, and they were so tied into one another, and they just did such an amazing job. But this is its own show, so we're trying to create something original by stealing a few things from them that worked really well."

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The Message of 'HIMYF'

How I Met Your Father's message to viewers is simply "that they're not alone," Duff said during the TCA panel. "We all are this tight-knit group of friends and just relying on the person that we love and having the experiences in your early 30s, I think probably Sophie's isn't quite where she thought she would be and she's just flailing a little bit."

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Sophie Isn't Lizzie McGuire

Duff's Lizzie McGuire reboot was scrapped because Disney+ didn't want the series to be so adult, but don't think of HIMYF as a replacement.

The leading lady explained at the TCA panel, "Comparing it to the Lizzie that never was, she's a totally different character, and we get to obviously have a lot more fun in what people are doing in their 30s."

Credit: Patrick Wymore/Hulu

Coming Back for More

One month before the season 1 finale is set to stream in March 2022, the show has been picked up for a 20-episode season 2.

“HAPPY NEWS! Surprise! You'll be seeing more great chapters in this love story because #HIMYF has been renewed for Season 2! 💚,” Duff wrote via Instagram at the time.