‘How I Met Your Father’: Neil Patrick Harris returns as Barney Stinson

The beginning of the second season of “How I Met Your Father” brings us a memorable return to the original series: Neil Patrick Harris wore the Barney costume again wait for it… Stinson. The episode titled “Future Sophie” airs Tuesday, January 24 on Hulu and begins with the protagonist telling her son how she hit rock bottom. The narrative flashes back to the present in its timeline where we see a 30-year-old Sophie driving through the suburbs trying to talk to Lori.

Distracted, she has a minor collision with an Audi with plates that say “LGNDRY” and Barney himself gets out. It will be the introduction of Harris, but not the only time we will see him during the 20 episodes of the second season, yes, it has not been revealed how big or important his participation will be. This “signature” is the least curious and It contradicts the actor’s previous statements in which Harris strongly rejected a possible return: “Barney’s antics and constant delusions of grandeur would probably get everyone in trouble. So unless he’s changed his ways or joined a convent, I’m not sure it’s for the best.”she said in February 2022. Even Duff herself agreed then that in 2022 “Barney would be… in prison” which is why they made the character of Valentina, her “How I Met Your Father” equivalent, a woman.

It’s not the first time a “How I Met Your Mother” character has been given a spin in this spinoff. Cobie Smulders had a small cameo as Robin Scherbatsky at the end of the first season, when Hilary Duff’s Sophie Tompkins walks into MacLaren’s and the reporter ends up giving her some love advice: “Fear can make you run away from things that could be good, even great! Things that should be part of your story… I’ve been married, I’ve been single, I’ve been everything in between, and the only decisions I regret making taken are the ones I took out of fear”.

This is how the return took place

In an interview with TVLine, Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, the team behind ‘HIMYF’, explained about Barney’s appearance: “Luckily, his relationship with Pamela Fryman [productora ejecutiva de ambas series] It’s so nice that I was able to communicate with him and get a response, “Let’s talk about it,” I count Berger, “We did a creative zoom with him to talk about what we were thinking, and voila.” On the whole question of how problematic Barney’s attitude was in the post-MeToo era, Berger acknowledges that pretty much the entire meeting was about seeing how they could keep the spirit of the character while fitting into the style of the new series.

In the year “How I Met Your Father” takes place, Barney is already Ellie’s father and is separated from Robin: “Whenever we talk about bringing back an original cast member, we want it to serve two purposes: to give an idea of ​​what is going on in their lives, where they are and where they are”; Aptaker says, “But it’s also about how they impact the story of ‘How I Met Your Father’ and how they take one of our characters in a new and unexpected direction. Like Robin last year, we’ll learn a little more about Barney’s whereabouts, but it’s also going to have a huge impact on the trajectory and main storyline of our season.” In Spain ‘How I Met Your Father’ is seen on Disney+, where you can now fully enjoy the first season.