Well, this should be legen — wait for it! — dary. Hulu has picked up How I Met Your Father, a sequel series to CBS’ How I Met Your Mother starring Hilary Duff, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
This Is Us and Love, Victor showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger will oversee the spinoff, with HIMYM creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas executive producing alongside Aptaker and Berger. Duff, who will play a character named Sophie, will also receive a producer credit.
Here’s the official description:
“In the near future, Sophie (Duff) is telling her son the story of how she met his father: a story that 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, what they want out of life, and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and limitless options.”
Related Video
In a statement, Duff expressed her excitement for the role, “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. Isaac and Elizabeth are brilliant, and I can’t wait to work alongside them and all of their genius. Just fangirling 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 6½’s in there!”
Aptaker and Berger added, “We are beyond excited to be bringing How I Met Your Father to Hulu… We are so honored to be carrying the torch forward for the next generation — and with Hilary Duff no less! 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.” They joked, “We hope nobody thinks it’s weird that Bob Saget will be playing old Hilary Duff’s voice.”
Bays and Thomas spoke about passing the torch to Aptaker and Berger. “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,” they said. “We are honored by their passion and vision, and look forward to helping them tell a legendary new story.”
HIMYM aired on CBS from 2005 and 2014. It centered around Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), who recounted to his son and daughter in 2030 the events from 2005 to 2013 in which he met their mother. Other actors playing central roles include Jason Segal (Marshall Eriksen), Neil Patrick Harris (Stinson), Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky), and Alyson Hannigan (Lily Aldrin), with Saget narrating as the future Ted Mosby.
As THR points out, How I Met Your Father is the third attempt at a HIMYM sequel. It marks Aptaker and Berger’s second series at Hulu, joining Love Simon spinoff Love Victor. This is Us is expected to conclude with its sixth season in 2022.
As for Duff, the actor/singer is coming off the popular TV Land comedy, Younger, which just moved to Paramount+ for its final season. A revival of her breakout Disney Channel series, Lizzie McGuire, was scrapped from Disney+ late last year.
