Barney Stinson is back! Actor Neil Patrick Harris reprised his fan-favorite How I Met Your Mother role in the Season 2 premiere of the Hilary Duff-led spinoff, How I Met Your Father. At the end of the episode, Sophie (Duff) was seen getting into a fender bender and the car she dinged belonged to Barney. In a recent interview with TV Line, show creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger spoke about the inclusion of Harris in the series and how his presence will impact Sophie’s life.
Harris isn’t the only one making a return from the original franchise, in the last season Cobie Smulders’ Robin made a return to fans’ delight. Berger explained that everyone was quite excited about Harris’ casting, “As soon as we started breaking our season, we all got very excited about the idea of having him return.” She further hailed HIMYM and HIMYF director/executive producer Pamela Fryman’s efforts to get a nod from the actor saying, “Thankfully, his relationship with Pamela Fryman is so phenomenal that she was able to reach out to him and get a very quick, ’Let’s talk about it.’”
Aptaker explained that, whenever they talk about bringing back a member of the original crew they want it to serve two purposes, “You want to give some tidbits about what is going on in their lives, where they’ve landed and where they’re at, but it’s also about how they impact the How I Met Your Father story, and how they send one of our characters in a new, unexpected direction.” And Barney’s return will certainly impact Sophie’s life, she added, “Similar to Robin last year, we’ll learn some more about where Barney’s at, but it’ll also have a major impact on the trajectory, and main narrative, of our season.”
As for his character arc or when we’ll see him next, the duo stayed tight-lipped. Aptaker said, “We’ll have to wait and see. That car crash becomes a major turning point in Sophie’s life and in her season-long arc. Once we catch up to that, I think people will be pleasantly surprised by how her story turns via Barney.” Fans are sure whatever turn the story will take with Harris’ return it’ll be absolutely ‘legendary.’ Along with Duff as Sophie, How I Met Your Father casts Chris Lowell as Jesse, Francia Raisa as Valentina, Suraj Sharma as Sid, Tom Ainsley as Charlie, Tien Tran as Ellen, Kim Cattrall as future Sophie, and more.
How I Met Your Father season 2 is streaming on Hulu. You can check out the trailer below: