How I Met Your Father: Hilary Duff, Chris Lowell spill on HIMYM spin-off

It’s the spin-off to one of the most popular sitcoms ever – and there was one aspect of filming How I Met Your Father that really blew Hilary Duff’s mind.

Hilary Duff has opened up about the pressures of creating a spin-off to the wildly popular How I Met Your Mother sitcom, which ran for nine seasons, revealing what sealed the deal for her to sign on as the lead.

How I Met Your Father, starring Duff as Sophie, a 30-something woman in New York City who’s searching for love and hanging out with her tight-knit group of friends, may feature a similar format to the original and some subtle nods – but that’s where the similarities end.

“We got very reassured by our creators and writers that we weren’t trying to reboot the original show,” Duff told news.com.au.

“They’re just 30-something-year-olds trying to find love, and trying to find themselves along the way.”

Stream more entertainment news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

The spin-off stars Duff as photographer Sophie, who lives in NYC with a tight-knit crew. Picture: Hulu

The former Lizzie Maguire and Younger star, 34, explained that the apartment of original characters Lily and Marshall (played by Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel) and their iconic display swords are referenced, but the new characters have no idea of their significance.

“They [the new cast] just happen to stumble into this very coincidental, familiar zone … but the [creators] just let us know that we don’t have to emulate any of the characters or try to keep up with them, because they did their jobs so well. and we are not them,” Duff said.

“I think that was comforting to us. We were like, ‘OK, the script is really good, we see the opportunity here, we see where they’re going.’

“We get to bring this new essence to these characters and have our own fun and our own adventure.”

The original gang in How I Met Your Mother.

Along with Duff, HIMYF – which was just renewed for a second season –also stars Francia Raisa as Sophie’s best friend Valentina, Tom Ainsley as her British boyfriend Charlie, Chris Lowell as Jesse, Suraj Sharma as his buddy Sid, Tien Tran as Jesse’s adopted sister Ellen, and Kim Cattrall as Sophie’s future self, who tells the story to her kids.

The story follows Sophie’s journey to finding love. Picture: Hulu

Describing the first time they all sat down for a table read with the script, Lowell said there were “sparks coming off the page”.

“It wouldn’t have been anyone’s fault if it took us a second to kind of find our chemistry together, so I think we were all just kind of flabbergasted from the outset that the moment we read the first script aloud with each other, it just came to life,” Lowell told news.com.au.

The series leans into the sitcom format of its predecessor – a more rare format in the current crop of productions – and Duff admitted that it was difficult to keep up with the ever-changing style of their scripts.

“During the shoot, we’d have one to two chances to say the lines that are written on the page and then in come the writers and they were like, ‘Here’s your new line change, here’s your new joke, here’s your new bit’,” she said.

“Literally you get told it one time – and then you go. That was crazy new for all of us.”

Comparing HIMYF’s storylines to those of the hit sitcoms of the early 2000s, Duff said that it’s been modernised so as to be more “grounded” and “authentic”.

“I feel like we’re on the brink of something, where it’s like sitcoms are kind of having a revival moment, but they’re more grounded and more real so it’s not so over the top and we’re not sticking to this sitcom formula that doesn’t feel authentic to how people act in normal settings,” she said.

The first two episodes of How I Met Your Father season one premiere on Disney+ on March 9.