Hilary Duff To Star in Hulu’s ‘How I Met Your Father’
Kids, I’m going to tell you the story of how a popular network sitcom got a spinoff on Hulu.
Seven years after How I Met Your Mother ended its run on CBS, the concept will live again in a new form as How I Met Your Father, a spinoff series staring Hilary Duff as the central character. The press release announcing the show describes the plot thusly:
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.
This is not the first attempt to spin off a Father from How I Met Your Mother. In 2013, CBS developed their own version, titled How I Met Your Dad. It would have starred Greta Gerwig as the central character (with Meg Ryan voicing the narrator, a la Bob Saget on HIMYM). A pilot was shot, but it was not picked up by CBS. Instead, Gerwig went on to become an Academy Award-nominated director of acclaimed movies like Lady Bird and Little Women. (What would have happened to Gerwig’s directing career — and those great films — if she had spent seven years on a sitcom is one of the great recent Hollywood what ifs.)
There’s no suspense about whether this How I Met Your Father will be picked up as a series; Hulu has already ordered a full first season of 10 episodes. Look for it to be streaming in the near future.
Gallery — The Best TV Shows of the Year: