The premiere of How I Met Your Father will have fans of How I Met Your Mother feel right at home, as the setting is very much similar. The sequel spin-off series, starring Hilary Duff as Sophie, has the same premise of the main character recounting the events of how they met the future parent of their children.
Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby filled this role in the original show, with the nine-year run of the sitcom establishing all his characters’ traits and stories. Sophie may have just started out, but her characterization pretty much makes her a gender-swapped version of Ted and it’s interesting to see just how alike both protagonists are.
They're Hopeless Romantics
Fans of Hilary Duff are aware of her filmography, which almost exclusively comprises romance-based material. However, it’s supposed to be part of Sophie’s character to obsess over romance, as she goes to great lengths to attain her happily ever after.
Ted is perhaps the poster boy for what a hopeless romantic is supposed to look like, having gone through a number of embarrassments in the name of searching for the one. Both characters are repeatedly told by their friends to live a single life but keep going back to wanting to jump to relationships.
They Chase After Unattainable Romantic Interests
Ted had the habit of falling in love with pretty much every woman he thought he had a connection with, and there were many one-off characters in How I Met Your Mother that he pursued to no avail. However, the biggest object of his affection was Robin, who constantly turned him down, only for Ted to try and get her to change her mind.
In the same vein, Sophie was shown racing after Ian even though the two met just one time and didn’t have a realistic chance since he was moving to Australia. Both characters’ hopeless romantic mindset just can’t allow them to accept that some obstacles are too big for a relationship to continue.
They Share A Bit Too Much With Their Children
Ted and Sophie are a little too open with their children, as the pair don’t leave any details out. This was lampshaded by Sophie’s son, who claimed he didn’t want to hear about his mother’s dalliances, which Sophie brushed aside and revealed she was going to hook up with a bunch of guys over the years.0
Ted’s children found out about the two dozen women he had pursued in his youth, with Ted revealing all the intimate stuff about Victoria, Robin, Zoey, Stella, among others. The characters are supposed to be seen as close with their children but also don’t get that they’re making their kids uncomfortable.
They Have Difficulties Letting Go
It appears that How I Met Your Father adapted the vital aspect of the original series where the protagonist has to learn to let go. Ted’s inability to do so interfered in his relationships, as he was hung up on Robin and destroyed his chance with Victoria and other women until he finally stepped aside for Robin and Barney’s wedding.
Sophie was advised by her friends to forget about Ian, yet she got herself kicked out of a club days after Ian left by trying to get a funny picture to send to him. Both characters have a persistence about them that can only be cleared away when they feel they get a harsh reality check.
They Rely On Their Group To Survive Single Life
The sequel series brought a big Easter egg from How I Met Your Mother when it was revealed that Jesse and Sid now lived in the apartment that once belonged to Ted, Marshall, and Lily. It was a way for How I Met Your Father to establish that the friends on this show will also be very tight.
Sophie and Ted are the kind of personalities who will drive themselves up the wall if they’re left by themselves. The pair need friends in their lives to keep them grounded, but more importantly, they need people who will be there when they inevitably get their hearts broken.
They Have A Friend Who Pushes Them To Try New Things
Sophie and Ted are people who like to think they want to settle down but end up enjoying single life when they’re steered in that direction. They require a person who pushes them to do things outside their comfort zone, which is only possible through a friend that isn’t afraid to be bold.
For Ted, it was Barney who never let him mope around and took him for adventures like licking the Liberty Bell, among other antics they got mixed up in. Sophie has Valentina to fill this role, with How I Met Your Father already showing Valentina getting Sophie into a new friend group and going to places the latter might otherwise be nervous in.
They Went Overboard With Matchmaking
The differences in timelines is apparent when technology comes into play, as Sophie simply made use of Tinder to get dates while Ted had to go through an entire process with a matchmaking company. Still, the idea was the same, as both characters wanted to meet the one.
However, they also went way too overboard, with Ted attempting to get a woman he matched with to leave her fiance for him, while Sophie tried to get Ian to upend his life in Australia for them to have a long-distance relationship that could never work because of the time difference.
They End Up With Someone They Knew For A Long Time
The finale of How I Met Your Mother remains controversial and largely disliked for the way Ted got together with Robin, but the fact is that they ended up as a couple 25 years after they met. Although the sequel series has just started, it’s guaranteed that Sophie will have a similar fate.
Future Sophie revealed that one of the men she met the night the premiere episode was set in will be the father of her son. Since it’s also confirmed that Sophie will get together with the child’s father years down the line, her story parallels Ted’s for the way both characters have been around their eventual romantic partner all along.