How I Met Your Father - What We Know So Far

Kids, it's time for a new story — the story of "How I Met Your Father."

That's right, after a few years of being stuck in limbo, the "How I Met Your Mother" spin-off series is finally coming to fruition. For everyone eager to return to the mystical New York City where someone can sit in a bar with all their close friends every night, steal blue French horns, and find romance in a forgotten yellow umbrella, here's all the information we know about it so far.

The original "HIMYM" creators, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, will executive produce the series, while "This Is Us" showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger are stepping in to helm the series. Bays and Thomas said in a statement (via Deadline), "We are honored by their passion and vision, and look forward to helping them tell a legendary new story. Thanks to all the HIMYM fans out there who waited for it."

The new series, "How I Met Your Father," is coming to the streaming site Hulu with a 10 episode first season. They have yet to confirm a release date, but since the series takes place in 2021, we can assume they're filming this year. With only 10 episodes, it's highly possible the series could come out by the end of the year, but fans just might have to wait until 2022. Let's hope they don't leave us hanging for too long — the "wait for it" joke is only cute on screen.

But then, new characters means new inside jokes. 20th Television, who produced "HIMYM," is also producing "How I Met Your Father," so fans can expect the new series to resemble the original to an extent. In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, 20th Television president Karey Burke said of the show, "Our genius producers Isaac and Elizabeth who are — wait for it — legendary within our halls, have created a spectacular new take which both honors the original and is entirely their own."

While most of the cast is currently a mystery, we do know who will be filling Ted Mosby's shoes: Hilary Duff. Known for her Disney teenage years and more recently the series Younger, Duff will star as Sophie, who's telling her son the story of how she met his father. "As a huge fan of "How I Met Your Mother," I'm honored and even a little nervous that Carter and Craig would trust me with the sequel of their baby," Duff said in a statement (via Deadline).

After her "Lizzie McGuire" reboot fell flat over creative differences, "How I Met Your Father" seems to be filling that hole as it's not too dissimilar from what she wanted to do with McGuire — aka being a grown up in New York without the limits of a PG rating. Hopefully, creative differences won't be an issue here, because Duff is also producing the series. In a statement, creators Aptaker and Berger said, "We can't wait for audiences to meet Sophie and her crew, and watch them come into their own and find love in modern-day New York City. And we hope nobody thinks it's weird that Bob Saget will be playing old Hilary Duff's voice."

"How I Met Your Father" is using the same premise as its parent show: The framing of the story centers on Sophie (Duff) telling her son how she met his father. We don't know much else beyond that at this point, but we do know it'll be more modern than "HIMYM" as it takes place in 2021. This leads to a whole new kind of dating for Sophie that Ted never really dealt with: dating apps.

Hulu's official description of the series reads, "Sophie and her close-knit group of friends are in the midst of figuring out who they are, what they want out of life, and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and limitless options" (via The Hollywood Reporter). A lot happened in "HIMYM's" first season, so while "HIMYF" — as we better get used to calling it — is much shorter, fans can expect the comedy and shenanigans to continue.