The story of how a woman, Sophie, met the love of her life is getting longer.
Hulu has renewed its comedy How I Met Your Father, starring Hilary Duff as Sophie, for a second season. Season two will comprise 20 episodes — double the count for the current season. The pickup of the 20th Television series from This Is Us showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger comes midway through season one.
While not a spinoff of the similarly named How I Met Your Mother — which had a nine-season run on CBS from 2005-14 — How I Met Your Father is set in the same version of New York City as its predecessor: It’s revealed in the pilot that two of the show’s characters (played by Christopher Lowell and Suraj Sharma) now live in the apartment formerly occupied by HIMYM’s Ted, Marshall and Lily (Josh Radnor, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan).
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“Isaac and Elizabeth’s inspired vision for How I Met Your Father has proven to be true appointment viewing that fans cannot get enough of week to week,” said Jordan Helman, head of scripted content for Hulu Originals. “The lives of these characters, as portrayed by the immensely talented cast led by Hilary Duff, are just starting to unfold and we’re thrilled to bring more of this group’s journey to our viewers with a supersized second season.”
Hulu picked up HIMYF to series last year, after a few previous versions of the show failed to make CBS’ lineup in the years after How I Met Your Mother ended. Aptaker and Berger — who penned the second such take on the idea in 2016, then returned to it later — write and executive produce.
The first attempt, 2014’s How I Met Your Dad, came from HIMYM creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and Parks and Recreation alum Emily Spivey. The pilot starred Greta Gerwig but was passed over at CBS. After Aptaker and Berger’s first pass stalled, Allison Bennett (You’re the Worst) was hired to take another shot at the premise; it also ended up not moving ahead.
All the previous attempts, and the now renewed series, came from 20th Television, the Disney Television Studios unit that also produced HIMYM. (The three previous attempts came when the studio was still under the Fox umbrella.)
In addition to Duff, Lowell and Sharma, the How I Met Your Father cast includes Francia Raisa and Tien Tran; Kim Cattrall plays a future version of Sophie and narrates her tale of finding love.
Aptaker and Berger executive produce with Bays, Thomas, director Pam Fryman and Adam Londy. Duff is a producer. Bays, Thomas and Spivey are also credited as writers on the show’s pilot.
