How I Met Your Father

The How I Met Your Mother star sat down with Hilary Duff to discuss what it was like working on the new show and how it came about.

"So I'm there playing a character that I haven't played for some time surrounded by the same voices and the same visages that I had worked with for almost a decade, almost a decade ago. Harris said, "10 members of the How I Met Your Father crew, including the first assistant director, worked on How I Met Your Mother in similar job capacities." And I was also excited to work with Hilary, so all of that seemed like it was a fait accompli in its own way," said Harris. Some crew guy got hurt and there was an ambulance, it was pouring down rain, of course on the only night that we had him, and we're outside, and we'd already shot stuff leading up to this night where it wasn't raining. What it was like having him on the show and how it came about. He talked with Fryman and "the gang" about coming back and they pitched him an idea of how they would do it.

How I Met Your Father creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger share details regarding Barney's life following the end of How I Met Your Mother.

[appearance in How I Met Your Father](https://screenrant.com/how-i-met-your-father-tease-himym-cameos/), then, is an extension of this ending, proving that Ellie really did change Barney for the better. The world of the show would live on, however, in the spinoff How I Met Your Father, which features a number of callbacks to the original show in addition to surprise cast cameos. After his divorce, Barney largely regressed into a life of meaningless sex, but the birth of his daughter provides hope for the character's future.

Plus, why he's glad he didn't visit a familiar set from 'HIMYM.'

I think the fact that Sophie can run into people that we have seen in the past — I guess literally run into them, in my case — and then have that be a moment for her as opposed to having that person become a participant in the story in a larger way helps tell this story in its singular form. I know I still respect all of Barney and didn’t want him just to be sort of the butt of the joke. It was a great time to be on television. And so it was just a really fun thing to get to play. I don’t know, I just assume, I guess, that when you’re going onto someone’s show, they don’t have to be the nicest person. I couldn’t have felt more welcome, and it was rooted in a sincerity that was really appreciated. So I did a Zoom call with Pam and How I Met Your Father creators Isaac [Aptaker] and Elizabeth [Berger], and they sort of pitched an idea of how Barney could appear in a singular way and provide a bit of impact for Sophie, and at the same time reveal a bit about his current status. I just didn’t know them, and so I didn’t want to rely too much on past catchphrases and things of his vernacular. She’s a multihyphenate, and the fact that one of those hyphenates is a mother of three, doing that full-time with kids of different ages and being so positive still on set and so present and so professional and a producer, it was a joy to see. I thought that their conceit was clever and the timings worked out, so I said absolutely. [How I Met Your Father](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/how-i-met-your-father/) left off Sophie ( [Hilary Duff](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/hilary-duff/)) in the [Season 2 premiere](https://www.tvinsider.com/1078519/how-i-met-your-father-season-2-premiere-neil-patrick-harris-barney-sophie/), we see her spill all about suspecting that her new boyfriend Robert ( [John Corbett](http://tvinsider.com/people/john-corbett)) might actually be her dad (he’s not); if the story’s juicy enough, she doesn’t have to pay for the repairs on Barney’s car after rear-ending him. Talk about getting the call to reprise the role of Barney.

How I Met Your Father brought back original series star, Neil Patrick Harris, who discusses playing a more mature version of Barney Stinson.

[didn't last for long](https://collider.com/worst-tv-series-finale/). As the seasons went on, Barney fell in love with Robin ( [Cobie Smulders](https://collider.com/tag/cobie-smulders/)), and he began to reflect on his behavior in order to become a better person. [Hilary Duff](https://collider.com/tag/hilary-duff/)) journey and love life in [How I Met Your Father](https://collider.com/tag/how-i-met-your-father/), it was time for [Neil Patrick Harris](https://collider.com/tag/neil-patrick-harris/) to suit up again as Barney Stinson in the mid-season finale. [very elaborate ways](https://collider.com/barney-stinsons-schemes-how-i-met-your-mother/) of getting women to sleep with him. The actor returned to the role, after playing Stinson throughout the entire nine seasons of [How I Met Your Mother](https://collider.com/tag/how-i-met-your-mother/). He’s having these conversations about a daughter seeking out a better relationship with her father as a new father of a daughter and sitting talking to female who’s as attractive as Hilary Duff, it’s innate Barney fodder.

How I Met Your Father bosses Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger have teased details about Barney's return to the spin-off show that didn't air.

"But our thinking was that Barney is a little bit more of a family man now… "There was a little bit more that we shot that we took out of the [final] cut," Aptaker said. [Neil Patrick Harris is set to return again](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a43395336/how-i-met-your-father-neil-patrick-harris-return/) for the show's [mid-season finale](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a40412288/ashley-reyes-how-i-met-your-father-season-2/), which airs tonight (March 28) on Hulu. During the brief cameo, Barney was involved in a minor accident when main character Sophie, played by Hilary Duff, crashed into the back of his car. [Neil Patrick Harris confirmed to return to How I Met Your Father](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a43395336/how-i-met-your-father-neil-patrick-harris-return/) [How I Met Your Mother](https://www.digitalspy.com/how-i-met-your-mother/) during the season-two premiere of How I Met Your Father.

In the spinoff series, Hilary Duff stars as Sophie, who Harris returned to help look for the father she had never met. The show also stars Tien Tran, Suraj ...

He earned four Emmy Award nominations for his performance as serial womanizer Barney. Harris was a main character on the original series “How I Met Your Mother,” which ran for nine seasons on CBS starting in 2005. [back](https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/22/entertainment/how-i-met-father-plc/index.html) in the role of Barney Stinson in the mid-season [finale](https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/17/entertainment/how-i-met-your-father/index.html) of “How I Met Your Father.”