The writers of How I Met Your Father hope to eventually include all six of the original show’s main cast members in their spin-off.
How I met your father is a spin-off of the beloved show How I met your mother and follows the story of protagonist Sophie, played by Hilary Duff, and her journey to find love. The show uses the same framework as the original to depict Sophie’s misadventures in love and regularly pays homage to its predecessor with subtle nods and references. The show also features cameos from the original cast, including Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky in the Season 1 finale and Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson in the Season 2 premiere. These appearances not only add a touch of nostalgia for fans of the original show, but also add depth to the spinoff’s story. Creators, Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, have announced plans to bring more members of the original cast into the show to keep the nostalgia alive.
In an interview with Weekly entertainmentIsaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger stated that they hope to eventually feature all six of the original’s main cast members How I met your mother in their spin-off show. They revealed that Harris’s recent cameo in the season 2 premiere had shown the benefits of including the rest of the central cast in Sophie’s story. The creators have plans and ideas for all of the original characters, and it’s just a matter of planning and availability.
“We really went over the storylines for all of the original characters. Now it’s just a matter of parsing them out and hoping that people are available and willing to do it when it’s the right time to ask. But yeah, we think it’s that much is fun, and it makes our world bigger, and it satisfies fans on a really deep level, so we love doing it, and we have the ideas,” Berger said.
Aptaker added: “And our cast is getting so excited too. Hilary was so excited to work with Neil. They messaged a little bit and he interviewed her back when we launched the show last year. They have so much in common – both of them were these giant TV stars when they were still in high school, and now they both star in the How I Met series. They have these shared experiences, and it was very special to share the screen.”
Barney returns in How I Met Your Father
How I met your father mainly follows new characters, but features characters from the parent show How I met your mother. Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger recently spoke about Barney’s return in an interview with TVLine, revealing that it was easy to pull it off because NPH was very open to the idea. They also said they made sure to stay true to the character while also making sure his return would make sense in the spin-off.
“We wanted to bring him back, and we wanted him to stay true to his character and to the fans who loved Barney so much. But we also wanted him to appear on our show, in our time, in a way that made sense. so all that Zoom was spent talking about how we could combine all those things and serve him and the show in the best way possible. We’re really excited for people to see how that turned out.”
The creators have taken a keen interest in keeping the nostalgia of the original show alive in the spin-off, and Barney’s return is a testament to that. It will be interesting to see how the story unfolds with the return of a favorite character.