‘How I Met Your Father’ Casts Male Lead Opposite Hilary Duff in ‘HIMYM’ Spinoff

The forthcoming How I Met Your Mother spinoff has officially cast its male lead, who will play opposite Hilary Duff in the new series. According to Deadline, actor Chris Lowell will portray the young “father,” to Duff’s pre-mother role, in How I Met Your Father. Fans will likely recognize Lowell from roles in G.L.O.W., wherein he played trust-fund wrestling promoter Bash Howard, and opposite Carey Mulligan in the Oscar-winning film Promising Young Woman.

In How I Met Your Father, Duff stars as Sophie, a woman recalling the story of how she met her son’s father, per The Wrap, the story jumps back to 2021, when Sophie and her friends were living their lives fun and free, discovering who they are and what they want in life while seeking romance at a time when dating apps are the most common form of finding love. Lowell plays Jesse, one of Sophie’s friends. The character is described as “smart, with a bit of an edge” and “cynical about love.” Jesse is an aspiring musician whose day job is being an Uber driver, and he is roommates with his best friend, Tom.

How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have signed on as executive producers of the new series, with Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger hired to write the 10-episode comedy. Duff will serve as a producer on How I Met Your Father, and 20th Television, the same studio behind the original series, will serve as the producing studio. The show will also use the same multi- and single-camera style of filming used on How I Met Your Mother.

In a statement on the new series, Bays and Thomas: “Kids, I’m going to tell you an incredible story: It’s the story of how two writers got lucky enough to make their dream TV show for nine seasons and now get to pass the torch to an inspired new creative team with their own incredible story to tell, the story of How I Met Your Father. We are honored by their passion and vision, and look forward to helping them tell a legendary new story. (Thanks to all the HIMYM fans out there who waited for it.)”

Bays and Thomas actually previously shot a How I Met Your Mother spinoff pilot, called How I Met Your Dad, but that was not picked up and ultimately was canceled. In 2016, it was revealed that Aptaker and Berger were scripting How I Met Your Father, but the project was eventually put on a creative back-burner. The new spinoff has been ordered straight-to-series at Hulu, but no premiere date has been announced as of yet.