Did someone build a time machine and send me back to 2014? Back around the time when the long-running How I Met Your Mother was winding down, CBS was keen on keeping the nine-year-old series' momentum going with a spinoff show. Titled How I Met Your Dad, it would have been told from a female perspective and shown how the main female character met her future spouse. CBS declined to move forward with the spinoff in May 2014, but two and a half years later, it looks like the project is getting a second chance.
According to Deadline, the How I Met Your Mother spinoff is back in development at 20th Televison, only now instead of being called How I Met Your Dad, it will be called How I Met Your Father. This Is Us writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger are tackling the spinoff, while How I Met Your Mother executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas will retain those roles, although it's noted that they won't be directly involved in its development due to their deal at Sony Television. Judging by the report, although the overall premise of How I Met Your Father sounds the same as before, it sounds like they're starting from scratch rather than picking up all the pieces from two years ago.
The original How I Met Your Mother spinoff actually made it fairly far into development. A pilot was shot, and much like how Bob Saget voiced the older Ted Mosby in the first series, Meg Ryan was cast to voice the older version of the lead female character. Thanks to the How I Met Your Dad pilot script leaking online, we now know the show would have followed Sally Javits (played by Greta Gerwig), a woman who moves in with her brother Danny and his husband Todd after her own marriage falls apart. Supposedly the reason this wasn't picked up by CBS was because Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were unwilling to reshoot the pilot before it received a series order. It was then shopped around to other networks, but none of them were game. Now the creative minds are game for another try, although it remains to be seen which network the spinoff might air on.
Much like How I Met Your Dad, it appears that How I Met Your Father will follow in How I Met Your Mother's footsteps in concept only, opting to star a brand new cast of characters. Still, considering how many other TV spinoffs have been closely connected to their parents series, it is worth wondering if any of the How I Met Your Mother alum could guest star. Given how polarizing the series finale was, it might be wise to bring in one or two characters to appear on How I Met Your Father to provide more proper closure.
We'll keep you updated about How I Met Your Father is progressing as more news comes in, but let us know what you think of this spinoff being worked on again in the comments below.
