‘How I Met Your Father’: [Spoiler] From ‘HIMYM’ in Season 2 Premiere — Episode 1

The next incorporates spoilers from the Season 2 premiere of How I Met Your Father.

And also you thought Cobie Smulders’ return as Robin Scherbatsky was the largest shock How I Met Your Father had up its sleeve.

Tuesday’s premiere marked the primary look (key phrase being first) by How I Met Your Mom‘s Neil Patrick Harris, who’s reprising his Emmy-nominated function as Barney Stinson in Season 2 of the Hulu sequel sequence.

Within the episode, Future Sophie begins to inform her son the story of how she hit “all-time low.” We then in the reduction of to the current timeline — albeit later within the yr — to seek out 30-year-old Sophie driving by way of the suburbs, frantically making an attempt to make contact with Lori. “Mother, please name me again,” she says. “I believe I’m courting my dad!” Wait, what??

Distracted, Sophie will get right into a fender bender. She will get out to evaluate the injury, and that’s after we uncover that the automobile she dinged belongs to Barney. “Dude!” he exclaims, because the bumper falls off the again of his Audi (whose license plate reads “LGNDRY”). And that’s all we get of Barney for now.

An episode rely for Harris’ encore is being stored underneath wraps, however we will affirm that NPH’s cameo was solely an introduction, and we’ll see extra of Barney sooner or later throughout HIMYF‘s supersized second season of 20 episodes.

Beneath, HIMYF creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger talk about Harris’ return to the franchise, rule out a attainable connection between the 2 reveals, and counsel how one other upcoming visitor star could also be liable for Barney and Sophie crossing paths.

TVLINE | How lengthy had NPH’s return been within the works?
BERGER | As quickly as we began breaking our season, all of us acquired very excited concerning the thought of getting him return. Fortunately, his relationship with [HIMYM and HIMYF director/executive producer] Pamela Fryman is so phenomenal that she was capable of attain out to him and get a really fast, “Let’s discuss it.”
APTAKER | She officiated his marriage ceremony!
BERGER | We did a artistic Zoom with him to speak about what we had been considering, and that was it. He was sport, which was so unbelievable for us. It was the easiest way we may think about coming again.
APTAKER | He additionally has slightly little bit of a preexisting relationship with Hilary Duff. They related when the present launched final yr, and he or she did an interview with him for his e-newsletter Wondercade, so he was actually excited to get to come back meet her and work along with her. It was superior to see the 2 of them bond over changing into tv stars at such an early age, then fronting a How I Met… sequence.

TVLINE | In that interview, NPH urged that the Barnacle’s “antics” wouldn’t fly within the #MeToo period, and HIMYF could be higher off with out him. Had been these considerations addressed throughout that preliminary Zoom?
BERGER | Completely. We needed to deliver him again, and we needed him to be true to his character and to the followers that cherished Barney a lot. However we additionally needed him to exist on our present, in our time, in a approach that made sense, so all of that Zoom was spent speaking about how we may mix all these issues and repair him and the present in the easiest way attainable. We’re very excited for individuals to see the way in which that turned out.

TVLINE | We all know from How I Met Your Mom that Barney was born in 1975, which suggests he would have been simply 17 years previous when Sophie was born in 1992. We additionally know that Barney was a late bloomer who misplaced his virginity at 23. Assuming nothing’s been retconned, can we go forward and rule him out as Sophie’s dad?
APTAKER | I believe so. We’re not telling a teen dad story. I believe given Lori’s age, that’d turn out to be a fairly uncomfortable story.
BERGER | Yeah. I don’t assume it is advisable be a mathematician, solely a HIMYM fan, to succeed in the conclusion you reached. [Laughs]

TVLINE | Hey, you by no means know! You can have modified a number of particulars and chalked it as much as Ted being an unreliable narrator.
BERGER | True!

TVLINE | At this level within the timeline, Barney is already divorced from Robin and pop to Ellie. Will we be taught extra about his life after the occasions of the HIMYM finale?
APTAKER | Every time we discuss bringing again a member of the unique crew, you need it to serve two functions: You wish to give some tidbits about what’s going on of their lives, the place they’ve landed and the place they’re at, but it surely’s additionally about how they affect the How I Met Your Father story, and the way they ship one in all our characters in a brand new, sudden course. Just like Robin final yr, we’ll be taught some extra about the place Barney’s at, but it surely’ll even have a serious affect on the trajectory, and foremost narrative, of our season.

TVLINE | The Season 2 trailer revealed a Could-December romance between Sophie and a brand new character performed by John Corbett. Does Sophie’s sudden curiosity in older males lead her to Barney?
BERGER | There is an opportunity that it parlays into the Barney storyline, however the way in which that it does, I believe, could be very sudden and shocking.

TVLINE | How lengthy will or not it’s earlier than we see Barney once more?
APTAKER | We’ll have to attend and see. That automobile crash turns into a serious turning level in Sophie’s life and in her season-long arc. As soon as we catch as much as that, I believe individuals will probably be pleasantly shocked by how her story turns through Barney.