‘How I Met Your Father’: Release Date, Cast, and Everything We Know

Wait for it … How I Met Your Father, the long-awaited spinoff to How I Met Your Mother, is almost here. Hulu first gave the series a 10-episode order back in April, but efforts to bring How I Met Your Father to life began in 2016. Additionally, this version comes years after a failed CBS spinoff, called How I Met Your Dad, in 2014. Will the updated concept fare better than its predecessor? Fans will have to wait a few more weeks to find out. Here’s everything we know about How I Met Your Father, including its release date, cast, and more. 

‘How I Met Your Father’ release date and how to watch

On Nov. 17, the How I Met Your Father cast shared a video announcing the release date. Good news: it’s much closer than fans might have expected. The show will premiere on Jan. 18, 2022. Check out the announcement clip below — those who watched How I Met Your Mother will recognize a few of its iconic phrases. 

How I Met Your Father will be available to stream exclusively on Hulu. According to TVLine, the first two episodes will launch at once on the platform, followed by a new episode every week. 

What is ‘How I Met Your Father’ about?

Taking on a similar approach to How I Met Your Mother, the spinoff will feature a mother named Sophie telling her son how she met his father. However, unlike the 2000s original, How I Met Your Father will include modern dating apps and new relationship scenarios. 

Hulu said in a press statement (via Parade) that the story “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, and what they want out of life and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and timeless options.”

In terms of formatting, the show will feature an older Sophie as the narrator. The scenes were filmed using both single and multi-camera approaches, just like How I Met Your Mother.

Who is in the ‘How I Met Your Father’ cast?

In April, Hulu announced former Disney star Hilary Duff as Sophie. Later, the series revealed Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars) as Jesse, a musician living with his best friend, Sid. Playing the role of Sid will be Suraj Sharma (God Friended Me). Meanwhile, Grown-ish star Francia Raisa will play Sophie’s roommate, Valentina.

Other How I Met Your Father cast members include Tom Ainsley playing a model named Charlie, Tien Tran playing Jesse’s sister Ellen, and Daniel Augustin playing a Tinder match named Ian. Former Nickelodeon star Josh Peck will appear as a vice principal named Drew, while Ashley Reyes will play a surgeon named Hannah.

Finally, we have the narrator: Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall. In How I Met Your Mother, Bob Saget took on the narrator role as an older voice of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor).

Is anyone from ‘How I Met Your Mother’ returning for the spinoff?

While the cast has some new faces, the behind-the-scenes crew will look familiar to How I Met Your Mother fans. The original creators, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, signed on as producers alongside This Is Us co-showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. Additionally, How I Met Your Mother’s director, Pam Fryman, directed the How I Met Your Father pilot. Fryman will also serve as executive producer.

Since How I Met Your Father is separate from How I Met Your Mother, none of the original show’s cast members will take on recurring roles. However, Duff has said she hopes to someday see How I Met Your Mother guest appearances. 

“I don’t want to give it all away,” Duff told SiriusXM. “It does tie in, and hopefully, we’ll have some fun guest appearances from the original cast.”

Stay tuned to Showbiz Cheat Sheet for more How I Met Your Father news.