How Does 'How I Met Your Father' Link to 'HIMYM'?

Almost a decade on from when How I Met Your Mother concluded, the beloved Noughties sitcom is back...sort of.

Premiering on Hulu this week, the all-new How I Met Your Father stars Lizzie McGuire icon Hilary Duff as Sophie, a hopeless romantic looking for love. Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall also voices future Sophie.

There are 10 episodes in total, with the first two dropping on Tuesday, January 18 and the remaining eight airing weekly on the platform.

But how connected to the original show is the new series? Newsweek has everything you need to know about How I Met Your Father is linked to HIMYM.

How Is How I Met Your Father Linked to HIMYM?

How I Met Your Father is not a reboot or prequel to the original series, despite their very similar names and concepts. Instead, How I Met Your Father is a standalone show, set in the same world as HIMYM.

Just like HIMYM followed the romantic highs and lows of Ted (played by Josh Radnor), who in the year 2030 told his kids Luke and Penny the story of how he met their mother between the years 2005 to 2013, How I Met Your Father follows the same concept, except this time around it is through the eyes of Sophie and her friend's romantic relationships, with future Sophie living in the year 2050.

The original series followed the story of Ted Mosby and his friends, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) living in New York City, as Ted searched for his future wife.

The original ran for eight years and was nominated for 30 Emmy Awards—10 of which it won. Alyson Hannigan won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress and Neil Patrick Harris won the award for Favorite TV Comedy Actor twice. The show also took home the award for Favourite Network TV Comedy at the People's Choice Awards.

This time around, things will look a little different. Straight off the bat, How I Met Your Father is set in the present-day (2022) and will feature all things social media, including searching for romance via Instagram, Twitter, and online dating apps, which were all absent from the original series.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, How I Met Your Father's co-creator Isaac Aptaker explained: "People keep referring to the show as a 'reboot,' and it's not a reboot. It's set in the world of the previous show, but it's really its own thing."

He also called the series a "standalone sequel," reports TV Line.

If you are a fan of the original series (minus the controversial ending), there is some good news. The original series creators, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, as well as the original director and executive producer Pamela Fryman, have been involved in the making of How I Met Your Father.

As a result, Aptaker teased: "There are going to be lots of little rewards for people who love the original if they stick with us."

Fryman, who also directs several episodes of the new series added: "One thing that I can take away from it, having been on How I Met Your Mother for so long, is that this is not How I Met Your Mother—and I loved How I Met Your Mother.

"This is How I Met Your Father, and it is so spectacular in its own right.... From the first day on stage with masks on, we started rehearsing and instantly knew we had something."

At the moment, it is unknown if any of the original stars from HIMYM will appear in the sequel. Sure, it would be great to see Barney, Robin, Marshall, Lily, and Ted again, but for now, the cast and crew of the new series have remained tight-lipped about potential cameo appearances.

How I Met Your Father stars Hilary Duff as Sophie, alongside Bring It On's Francia Raisa as her best friend and roommate, Valentina.

GLOW's Chris Lowell takes on the role of Jesse alongside God Friended Me star, Suraj Sharma as Sid, Sophie's other two good friends.

The Royals star Tom Ainsley plays the role of Charlie and Candy Man's Tien Tran plays the role of Ellen, Jesse's adopted sister.

The first two episodes of How I Met Your Father premiere on Thursday, January 18 on Hulu.

how i met your father hulu
Sophie (Hilary Duff) and Valentina (Francia Raisa) in "How I Met Your Father." Patrick Wymore/Hulu

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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