Is ‘How I Met Your Father’ Related to ‘How I Met Your Mother’?

One of the most beloved sitcoms of the 2000s has returned with a slightly different name. This week marks the Season 2 premiere of How I Met Your Father. From Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, the multi-cam comedy follows Sophie (Hilary Duff), a 29-year-old photographer who’s unlucky in love but desperate to find her soulmate. The series switches between Sophie hanging out with her friends in 2022 and a future version of Sophie telling her kid how she met their father.

Sound familiar? That’s because this comedy exists in the same universe as How I Met Your Mother but with some key differences.

Is How I Met Your Father Related to How I Met Your Mother?

Do we really have to spell it out…? Yes, How I Met Your Father is connected to How I Met Your Mother. The Hulu original picks up in 2022, nine years after the events of the How I Met Your Mother finale. But though these two shows are set in the same universe, HIMYF is more of a spiritual sequel to HIMYM than a direct one.

How I Met Your Father follows a different group of single friends in their late 20s and early 30s as they try to balance their relationships and careers. Just like its predecessor, the entire point of the series revolves around a parent telling their child the too-long story of how they came to meet their parent (but this time around, the camera is pointed at Kim Cattrall). And though the days of MacLaren’s Pub are gone, our new gang hangs out in another bar by the name of Pemberton’s.

There are even some similar locations between the two shows. For example, Jesse (Chris Lowell) and Sid (Suraj Sharma) from HIMYF live in Ted (Josh Radnor) and Marshall’s (Jason Segel) old apartment. So, yes. This new series is the same, but it’s not identical. And, at least for now, no one in HIMYF is biologically related to anyone in HIMYM. 

Which How I Met Your Mother Cast Members Have Been on How I Met Your Father?

So far, this spinoff has welcomed two members of the original gang. Toward the end of Season 1, world-famous reporter Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) met Sophie (Hilary Duff) at MacLaren’s and gave her some advice about how she should handle her relationship with Jesse. And at the end of Season 2’s premiere, “Cool and Chill”, Sophie accidentally rear-ended none other than Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris). Funnily enough, that accident happened as Sophie was panicking to her mom that she may be dating her dad. Coincidence? Or foreshadowing?

But wait, there’s more. Last season also included a long storyline about The Captain (Kyle MacLachlan) and his third wife, Becky (Laura Bell Bundy). Basically, you can expect to see some of your How I Met Your Mother favorites in this newer comedy, but the main draw will always be Sophie and her friends.