Trivia / How I Met Your Father

• The Cast Showoff:
  • Hilary Duff shows off her singing in Episode 2.
  • Leighton Meester is also a musician just like her character.
• Darkhorse Casting: Hilary Duff is the most recognizable name due to her Disney teen idol career. Chris Lowell has an extensive career in television while Suraj Sharma is only known for his Star-Making Role in the Oscar-nominated movie, Life of Pi. Francia Raisa is mostly known in minor and supporting roles with The Secret Life of the American Teenager as her only major role. The other two (Tom Ainsley and Tien Tran are) aren't known much.
• In Memoriam: The premiere is dedicated to Bob Saget, the previous show's narrator, who died a week before the release.
• Produced by Cast Member: Hilary Duff who plays Sophie is a producer.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Like her character Ellen, Tien Tran is openly lesbian.
• Role Reprise:
  • Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Bell Bundy reprise their roles as The Captain and Becky respectively.
  • The first season finale brings back Cobie Smulders as Robin and Joe Nieves as Carl.
  • The second season premiere brings the return of Neil Patrick Harris as Barney. He's joined by Alexis Denisof as Sandy Rivers.
• Saved from Development Hell: When the final season of How I Met Your Mother was airing at that time, CBS announced in the fall of 2013 that there would be a spinoff entitled How I Met Your Dad which was supposed to be aired in 2014. However, the pilot wasn't picked up by CBS. In December 2016, there was an attempt to produce the spinoff which is renamed How I Met Your Father with This Is Us producers, Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. However, after the success of This Is Us which promoted the two producers as co-showrunners, the spinoff went on hold again. In August 2017, there was another attempt to revive the spinoff with Alison Benett as the writer. Then on April 2021, Hulu ordered the series with Aptaker and Berger as the creators, writers, and executive producers along with the three original staff of How I Met Your Mother (original creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and producer Pamela Fryman) as executive producers. The spinoff was eventually released on January 18, 2022.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Back when the 2014 pilot was produced, Greta Gerwig was cast as the protagonist of the show with Meg Ryan as the protagonist's voiceover. It was also titled How I Met Your Dad.
  • Per this TV Line article, Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger admit they had more in mind for Barney Stinson's appearance in season 2's mid-season finale that was imagined but not depicted in full. Below is what Aptaker and Berger had in mind to explain Barney's presence:
    Aptaker: There was a little bit more that we shot that we took out of the [final] cut, but our thinking was that Barney is a little bit more of a family man now… maybe he’s living the suburban dad life.
    Berger: There were a lot more details that unfortunately didn’t live [on in the episode]. We could have written this scene to go on for 45 minutes, but there were details about Sunday night dinner and all these things, and all of the routines and rituals that he has now as a family man. But yes, like Isaac said, we’re nodding to the idea that his life has changed and brought him here.