As one door closes another one opens. Though the storybook closed on the CBS hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother seven years ago, viewers are in for a treat as Hilary Duff (Younger) will now star in the sequel series How I Met Your Father. It was announced on Wednesday that Hulu landed the much anticipated sequel with a ten episode-series order, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
How I Met Your Father is created by Isaac Aptaker (This is Us) and Elizabeth Berger (This is Us). They will executive produce alongside Carter Bays (American Dad!) and Craig Thomas (Oliver Beene), who executive produced the original How I Met Your Mother series. Duff will also serve as a producer alongside 20th century television, who produced the original series.
The upcoming sequel has been a long time coming. It was originally planned to be called How I Met Your Dad in 2014 with Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) set to star and write the series, but CBS wasn’t happy with the pilot so the show was scrapped. Then the series met more road blocks as Aptaker and Berger began work on their acclaimed NBC series This is Us. But now it seems that everything has finally fallen into place.
Duff will step into the spotlight as Sophie, a mother in the near future telling her son how she met his father in the year 2021. It will follow the same formulaic structure that How I Met Your Mother used with some adjustments. Sophie will still reminisce on the good old days and all the friends she made, but now social media will be entering the landscape as it played a crucial part in finding love during the age of dating apps.
20th television president Karey Burke released a statement about the casting of Duff in addition to the series finding a home at Hulu. Entertainment Weekly picked up her full remarks: “How I Met Your Mother is a crown jewel in the 20th library and its fans have clamored for more ever since our final broadcast seven years ago. Our genius producers Isaac and Elizabeth who are — wait for it — legendary within our halls, have created a spectacular new take which both honors the original and is entirely their own. Carter and Craig will return as executive producers…and who better to star as the central character than the incredible Hilary Duff? Many thanks to Craig Erwich and everyone at Hulu Originals for loving the script as much as we did and to our fantastic team who helped put this all together. I could not be more excited. Let the speculation as to who the father is commence!”
Duff is currently starring in the seventh and final season of the Paramount+ series Younger opposite Sutton Foster (Bunheads). The first episode of the season debuted on April 15 and the series finale will air on June 10.