If you tuned into the premiere of How I Met Your Father, which aired on Tuesday, January 18, then you must have picked up on some of the Easter eggs throughout the comedy.
Though none of the original cast from How I Met Your Mother, which ran from 2005-2014, appeared or were mentioned, there were subtle hints that the two worlds are connected.
For one, the theme song and the opening credits were very similar to the OG series.
Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), Robin (Cobie Smulders), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Marshall (Jason Segel) and Ted (Josh Radnor) all hung out at their fave bar MacLaren’s, but this time around the group of friends — Sophie (Hilary Duff), Valentina (Francia Raisa), Jesse (Chris Lowell), Charlie (Tom Ainsley), Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Ellen (Tien Tran) — gather at Sid’s bar, Pemberton’s.
In the premiere episode, Sid takes a big leap by asking his girlfriend, Hannah, to marry him — which is what happened in How I Met Your Mother when Marshall proposed to Lily.
The biggest hint that the two realms are connected is when Sid and Jesse invite Sophie and Valentina back to their apartment, which is the same place Marshall, Lily and Ted all lived in throughout HIMYM.
Jesse said he bought the apartment from an “old married couple” from a Wesleyan alumni group, a.k.a. Marshall and Lily, and he mentioned that he got to keep the cool swords, which are above the mantle. If you’re a HIMYM fan, then you’ll know that Marshall and Ted would frequently duel using the swords.
During the first episode of the Hulu show, Sophie is convinced she found her soul mate, Ian. However, when they meet, he tells her he’s moving to Australia, as he’s a marine biologist and he got an amazing opportunity. She later shows up at the airport to tell Ian they can make it work, but he says with the time difference and his demanding job, it will be too much.
Fortunately, it seems like Sophie is on the mend, as Jesse and Sid become fast friends.
Despite the comparisons, Duff made it clear that their characters are different.
“We are our own show. The original show was so amazing and they were so tied into one another, but this is its own show,” she said. “We’re trying to create something original by stealing a few things from them that worked really well.”
We can’t wait for what’s to come!
