How I Met Your Father (abbreviated as HIMYF) is an American sitcom created by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. It was released on Hulu from January 18, 2022, until July 11, 2023. It is a spin-off of the television series How I Met Your Mother (2005âÂÂ14). The series, which stars Hilary Duff, Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, and Kim Cattrall, follows the main character, Sophie (Duff), and her group of friends in Manhattan. As a frame story, Sophie (Cattrall), in the year 2050, recounts to her unseen son the events that followed meeting his father in January 2022, and how they ultimately had him.
The television show won four Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Receiving mixed reviews from critics, How I Met Your Father was ultimately canceled after two seasons in September 2023.
In addition, Stony Blyden co-stars as Jasper, a bartender at Sid's bar, in season 1.
Following the production of the 2014 CBS pilot How I Met Your Dad, which did not move forward, on December 14, 2016, it was reported that Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger were set to write a new version of the previous spin-off's pilot, re-titled How I Met Your Father, with Carter Bays and Craig Thomas serving as executive producers. It was later announced that, after signing new contracts with 20th Century Fox Television that would see both Aptaker and Berger being promoted to executive producers and co-showrunners on This Is Us alongside Dan Fogelman, the idea would be put on hold until further notice.
On August 8, 2017, Fox chairman Dana Walden told Deadline Hollywood that 20th Television were attempting a spin-off with different writers, for the third time. Three days following the announcement, Deadline reported that Alison Bennett would write the spin-off, with the same title as the previous attempt with Aptaker and Berger. It was also learned that Bays and Thomas were once again hired as executive producers. This attempt also fell through.
On April 21, 2021, the spin-off series titled How I Met Your Father was given a 10-episode series order by Hulu. On June 24, 2021, Pamela Fryman joined the series as an executive producer and to direct the pilot. On February 15, 2022, Hulu renewed the series for a 20-episode second season. On September 1, 2023, the series was canceled after two seasons.
Upon series order announcement, Hilary Duff was cast to star. On June 16, 2021, Chris Lowell joined the cast as the male lead. In August 2021, Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, and Suraj Sharma were cast in starring roles while Brandon Micheal Hall was cast in a recurring role. However, a few weeks later, Hall exited the role due to a scheduling conflict and Daniel Augustin was cast to replace Hall. The next day, Josh Peck and Ashley Reyes joined the cast in recurring roles. On November 5, 2021, Kim Cattrall was cast in a recurring role as the future version of Duff's character Sophie. Upon the series premiere, it was reported that Leighton Meester is set to recur. On February 3, 2022, it was announced that Paget Brewster was cast to guest star on the episode,"The Good Mom", which aired on February 8, 2022. On January 18, 2023, Meaghan Rath was cast in a recurring capacity for the second season.
Principal photography for the series began on August 31, 2021.
How I Met Your Father premiered on Hulu on January 18, 2022. Internationally, the show began streaming on Disney+ via Star and in Latin America on Star+ on March 9, 2022. The second season premiered on January 24, 2023, on Hulu. Internationally, the second season arrived on April 19, 2023, on Disney+. The entire series is also available on Disney+ in the United States via the Hulu tab since December 6, 2023.
According to Parrot Analytics, which looks at consumer engagement in consumer research, streaming, downloads, and on social media, How I Met Your Father was the fifth most in-demand new show during the week of March 12, 2022, to March 18, 2022. Whip Media's app TV Time, which tracks viewership data for the more than 19 million worldwide users of its app, reported that How I Met Your Father was the fifth-most streamed original series in the U.S. during the weeks of January 23 and January 30, 2022. It ranked eighth during the week of February 13, fourth during the week of March 13, and third during the week of March 20, 2022.
Whip Media's TV Time reported that How I Met Your Father was the most-streamed original series in the U.S. during the week of January 29 to February 5, 2023, and held the second position during the weeks of February 12, February 26 to March 5, and June 4, 2023. It was ranked third during the weeks of February 19, March 12, March 26, April 2, and May 28, and fourth during the week of March 19. Furthermore, How I Met Your Father was ranked as the twenty-sixth most-watched streaming original television series of 2023, according to Whip Media.
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 36% approval rating, based on 47 critic reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "How I Met Your Father takes great pains to update its predecessor's formula for a modern audience, but this stilted retread only amounts to a painful slog." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 49 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
The show's second season has a 33% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 critic reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10.