Fans Are Losing It Over How I Met Your Father's New Set Photos

"How I Met Your Mother," the landmark sitcom about a man regaling his kids with his very, very long marriage origin story, ran for nine seasons from 2005 to 2014. Despite not having the most well-liked ending, the series impressed along the way and was a big enough hit to merit a revival. While parent network CBS ultimately passed on the 2013 pilot for "How I Met Your Dad" (which would've starred Greta Gerwig, Andrew Santino, and screen legend Meg Ryan), we found out in 2021 that there would be a new spin-off with a similar premise — "How I Met Your Father."

"HIMYM" co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas are serving as executive producers on "How I Met Your Father" alongside showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger of "This Is Us." "How I Met Your Father" will star Hilary Duff as Sophie, the Ted Mosby-like lead. Duff is also serving as a producer on the show. 

In addition to Duff, "How I Met Your Father" co-stars include Chris Lowell, Josh Peck, Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, and Surah Sharma. Recently we found out Sophie's love interest, formerly cast as Brandon Michael Hall, will now be played by Daniel Augustin.

Thus far, we'd really only seen one major on-set photo through Hilary Duff's Instagram, but today we've got a host of new behind-the-scenes photos of the show filming — and fans are bugging out.

The official "How I Met Your Mother" Twitter account tweeted out four new pictures from the series with the statement, "It's going to be legen— wait for it —dary! Filming for How I Met Your Father (@himyfonhulu) starts now."

In addition to images of the cast (both in front of the camera and behind the scenes), we also see what appears to be "HIMYM" mainstay setting McLaren's Pub. And while stars Neil Patrick Harris and Josh Radnor have both stated they don't intend to return, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that other settings and aspects of the original series may make reappearances as Easter eggs. Long-time fans are definitely jazzed about what they're seeing.

"Wait wtf omg I can't breathe," tweets @Thegr8Joshua. "I AM CRYING," says mirrors @_mayaragrosso in their tweet.

Obviously, not everyone is immediately sold by these first images — after all, the last attempt at a spin-off didn't even make it to air. "I try to keep an open mind, but I don't think it's going to pan out," tweeted @maikeldesoporte. "Would love to be proven wrong, though."

Ultimately, whether people are saying, "I don't know what I feel about this series" or, "I've been waiting YEARS for this," the response is clear: people's expectations are very high for a follow-up to one of the most beloved American sitcoms of the 2000s. 

"How I Met Your Father" will air on Hulu.