How I Met Your Father, a standalone sequel to the much-loved How I Met Your Mother, follows Sophie (played by Hilary Duff), and her group of friends in Manhattan. Like the original, Sophie (Kim Cattrall), in the year 2050, recounts to her unseen son the events that followed meeting his father in January 2022.
The Hulu series, which also stars Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley and Tien Tran, is currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar, and has been renewed for a second season. Over a late-evening video call, The Telegraph caught up with Tom Ainsley (who plays Charlie), Francia Raisa (as Valentina) and our very own Suraj Sharma (who plays Sid) for a chat on their show, the vibe on set and which How I Met Your Mother character they would love to play.
Your show has been renewed for Season 2 really quick. That must be such a high...
Francia Raisa: Oh, it feels great! We can’t wait to get started again.
What’s been the standout reaction so far?
Francia: One thing that I have consistently been hearing is how much they love our chemistry as a cast. What I love about it is that we did our job as actors and right from the first episode, the viewers have said that they could see our chemistry building. As actors, that is special because we were all trying to figure things out on set, at least in the initial episodes.
Tom Ainsley: Yes, it’s interesting to hear people say, by the time we got to the mid-season episodes, ‘Oh, all these characters seem much more settled now. They seem much more comfortable with each other’. As actors, we definitely hit the ground running. But as individuals, we were trying to figure each other out. Most of our characters were thrown together right from the start, and the gradual building of our chemistry happened very naturally during the shooting process.
Suraj Sharma: What we were gunning for was a sense of familiarity because what was great about How I Met Your Mother was this sense of familiarity, between them and between them and the audience. With How I Met Your Father, I think we have managed to achieve quite a bit of that. Like viewers say, ‘Wow, these guys seem like my friends... or at least friends of friends... we feel like we know these characters’. What we wanted to create was a nice and comfortable space for people to come and hang, you know.
One thing that I have consistently been hearing is how much they love our chemistry as a cast. We did our job as actors and right from the first episode, the viewers have said that they could see our chemistry building
Francia Raisa
Purely as viewers and I am guessing as fans of How I Met Your Mother, what was your first reaction when you heard about this spin-off?
Suraj: I love How I Met Your Mother! I did think about it (the spin-off) for a while... as a fan, I was like, ‘Just be careful out there with this!’ (Laughs) But after meeting these lovely human beings that I got to work with, and then with the writers, I just felt that this was such a strong, true, genuine bond, both in the story as well as with the people working on this show.
Tom: When we were introduced to the writers and showrunners, I felt, ‘Okay, this project can probably, maybe definitely work’. I don’t think I realised the scale of it all until the show came out (smiles). When we were making the show, I just felt like... (pauses) making just another show, I guess. But when it came out, all the How I Met Your Mother fans started paying a lot of attention to our show.
Francia: Tom, it was crazy from the beginning! Where were you then?!
Tom: Oh, I was hiding! (Laughs)
You have been speaking so much about the vibe on the sets of this show. As actors, is it necessary for you to gel with your co-stars in order to bring out the best in you?
Tom: Well, everyone would like to think so, but it’s not necessarily true (smiles).
Francia: I had an experience where I did not get along with my co-star... we were the two leads... and people later said that was the best chemistry that they had ever seen between me and a co-star! (Laughs) I was clearly working hard on that one. But it’s definitely nice to look forward to go and work because you get along with the people you work with.
Tom: In a project like How I Met Your Father, which is so heavily comedy-based, I do think that chemistry and goodwill between co-stars is important. In between takes, we can keep chatting and keep throwing ideas around and saying, ‘Okay Suraj, I am going to do something different in this take’. It helps to know that when you are doing that, the other person will have your back, not just as a co-star but also as a friend.
Suraj: I just feel that if you like each other, it makes room for better things. Maybe you don’t even have to like each other... you need to trust each other and respect each other. I feel that goes a long, long way.
When we were introduced to the writers and showrunners, I felt, ‘Okay, this project can probably, maybe definitely work’. I don’t think I realised the scale of it all until the show came out
Tom Ainsley
Is there anything in common between you and the characters that you play on this show?
Suraj: Well, Sid’s a goofball and I am a goofball too! (Laughs)
Francia: I think we add a little bit of ourselves to each character that we play. And that’s why we were able to play them because when I initially read about my character, I heard her voice playing in my head. Valentina, I feel, is some version of me... she is someone I really want to be but I am not brave enough to be. It’s great that we have a job where we can pretend to be people that we hope we can be in real one day (laughs).
Tom: I am not going to say that Charlie is like me in terms of personality. But in terms of the situation that we found ourselves in, we had a lot in common. I had just arrived in the United States as we had started filming this show, just like Charlie had just arrived from England. When we got to the episode where Charlie was looking for a place to live, I was doing the exact same thing! (Laughs)
Francia: I think, at least, initially I was a kind of culture shock to Tom. I kept asking myself, ‘I have never hung around with a British guy like this. What is going on?!’ (Laughs) In the show, Charlie is terrified of Valentina...
Tom: I still am!
If you guys could play a character from How I Met Your Mother, who would you pick?
Francia: Oh, I would love to play Barney (Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris). He is so much fun!
Suraj: I would love to be either Marshall (Eriksen, played by Jason Segel) or Lily (Aldrin, played by Alyson Hannigan). They are both such sweet and crazy human beings. I have learnt a lot from them and I have always kind of rooted for Marshall and Lily.
Tom: Oh, I would love to be Robin (Scherbatsky, played by Cobie Smulders). I think Robin is quite similar to Charlie. Charlie is an outsider to begin with, and it was nice to see how Robin, on that show, sort of integrated herself into the group. And I hope it’s nice watching Charlie do the same.