Nearly a decade after How I Met Your Mother ended its nine-season run, Emmy winner Neil Patrick Harris is officially reprising his iconic role as Barney Stinson in the latest season of Hulu’s How I Met Your Father. Harris’ return was confirmed after he made a surprise appearance during the spin-off’s second season premiere.
Speaking with TVLine, creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger teased that the fan-favorite How I Met Your Mother character will be playing a key role in Sophie’s storyline in Season 2. They also revealed that Harris’ Barney is expected to appear in a few more episodes.
“Whenever we talk about bringing back a member of the original crew, you want it to serve two purposes: You want to give some tidbits about what is going on in their lives, where they’ve landed and where they’re at, but it’s also about how they impact the How I Met Your Father story, and how they send one of our characters in a new, unexpected direction,” Aptaker explained. “Similar to Robin last year, we’ll learn some more about where Barney’s at, but it’ll also have a major impact on the trajectory, and main narrative, of our season.”
How I Met Your Father is written and executive produced by creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger (Love Victor). The series stars Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire) as Sophie, Chris Lowell (GLOW) as Jesse, Francia Raisa (Grown-ish) as Valentina, Tom Ainsley (The Royals) as Charlie, Tien Tran (Space Force) as Ellen, and Suraj Sharma (Homeland) as Sid. Additional cast includes Kim Cattrall, Daniel Augustin, Ashley Reyes, and Josh Peck.
“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 present 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,” reads the synopsis.
The Hulu sitcom is executive produced by How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, along with Adam Londy. 20th Television is producing with Duff also set as a producer.
The original series ran on-air for nine seasons from 2005-2014. It starred Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby, Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen, Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin, Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, and Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky, with Bob Saget serving as the voice of future Ted.
