How I Met Your Father Just Landed A Criminal Minds Legend To Play Sophie's Mom

"How I Met Your Father" may be a spinoff of "How I Met Your Mother," but it's already carving a unique niche for itself to separate itself from its predecessor. For starters, we get to see the grown-up version of the protagonist in the flash-forward sequences instead of the children. Instead, the child remains hidden, which was done in an attempt to obscure the identity of the father. 

That's the other major departure. In "How I Met Your Mother," the titular future wife of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) is a mystery up until the final episode of Season 8. Until that point, she could've been anyone. "How I Met Your Father" flips the script and instead presents us with four individuals (and later five) who could possibly be the father. The pool of applicants is far narrower, but that doesn't make the central mystery any less enticing.

Now, we're about to delve even further into what makes Sophie (Hilary Duff) tick, and potentially get a glimpse into whom she'll ultimately choose as a partner and father, as we're about to be introduced to her mother. And the actress who will play Sophie's mom is a TV legend in her own right.

According to TVLine, Paget Brewster will make her debut as Sophie's mom on the February 8 episode of "How I Met Your Father," titled "The Good Mom." While it will be the first time viewers see her face, we already know quite a bit about her. In the pilot episode, Valentina (Francia Raisa) mentions how Sophie's mother was a party girl who dated one guy after the next, to the point where Sophie doesn't even know who her real dad is. In a later episode, Sophie mentions how she pretty much had to act like an older sister to her mother because she could never get her act together.

It looks like we'll get a chance to see how Sophie's mother is doing these days when Paget Brewster arrives to play her in the upcoming episode. Brewster's no stranger to playing iconic TV roles. She's perhaps best known to audiences for portraying Emily Prentiss on nearly 200 episodes of "Criminal Minds." After that, she appeared on "Community" as Frankie Dart as well as "Grandfathered" as Sara Kingsley. Interestingly enough, Sara Kingsley was the mother of Josh Peck's character on "Grandfathered," and Josh Peck currently has the role of Drew on "How I Met Your Father."

"How I Met Your Father" may be a sitcom, but it's clear it's not afraid to really dive into characters' psyches and delve into more serious moments. Seeing how Brewster has experience with both dramas and comedies, she seems like a natural pick for the role.