The inaugural season of How I Met Your Father lowers its curtain in a big way…with the return of a major character from its parent show, How I Met Your Mother. In a finale swarmed with callbacks to its predecessor, the biggest surprise of all was a cameo from Cobie Smulders who played Robin Scherbatsky in How I Met Your Mother.

Not only is Smulders’ return an exciting surprise for fans of the original show but it is also perfectly timed for the characters in the show, as Robin Scherbatsky is at the right place at the right time to give the show’s lead – Sophie, played by Hilary Duff – sage advice about her complicated love life.

Smulders was not the only actor from the original show to return from How I Met Your Mother; Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Bell Bundy who played The Captain and his wife, Becky, reprised their roles in the penultimate episode and finale of How I Met Your Father’s freshman season. Carl the Bartender, played by Joe Nieves, also made an appearance when the show’s lead – Sophie – visited the iconic MacLarens Pub, where the main characters of How I Met Your Mother spent most of their time.

Showrunners Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker both sat down with Variety to discuss the surprisingly emotional finale. Speaking on the finale, Aptaker stated:

“We started talking about it pretty early in the season. We always knew we wanted to play with bringing back characters from the original, but we were also very adamant that this was a show that forms its own set of characters and its own group of friends first. So we knew we didn’t want that to happen too early. We also knew that when we wanted to bring back characters, we wanted them to have something really important to do — to guide one of our characters on their journey. Robin is coming into our show at an essential point in Sophie’s life and helping to point her in one direction. So it felt really organic that in our finale when Sophie’s at this romantic crossroads, that she would cross paths with with Robin and get some advice from this wiser character who’s in a different point in their life.”

Smulders’ return to How I Met Your Father is not the only exciting thing to happen to the show in recent weeks; after a long a journey to the screen, this iteration of the show is a certified hit which has been renewed for a second season, with Hulu giving the upcoming sophomore season a twenty episode order. As such, fans should expect to see the gang back on their screen in no time.

Besides Duff, the How I Met You Father’s cast includes Chris Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, and Kim Cattrall in lead roles, with Leighton Meester, Josh Peck, Ashley Reyes, and Daniel Augustin in notable recurring roles.

The complete freshman season of How I Met Your Father is now streaming on Hulu.

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