WARNING! This article contains spoilers for HIMYF episode 8.
While HIMYM’s finale came as a shock to many viewers, Future Sophie may have already spoiled her twist ending for How I Met Your Father. In both Ted and Sophie’s stories, viewers anxiously await not only the identity reveals of the title characters, but also the answer for how their relationships end. While it was suspected that Ted and Tracy, who was revealed as the mother in HIMYM’s season 8 finale, did get married and have kids, the original series’ ending showed that she had died six years prior to the title story, with Ted getting back with Robin in the end. Although the controversy of HIMYM’s finale suggested How I Met Your Father would play Sophie’s ending in a more straightforward manner, it seems the spinoff has already proven this wrong.
In reimagining HIMYM’s storytelling formula, How I Met Your Father introduced several twists to how Future Sophie would be telling her son the long tale. The first major change was that How I Met Your Father shows Future Sophie onscreen while leaving the identity of her son unseen, whereas HIMYM depicted Ted’s kids listening to the story while Future Ted was unseen. How I Met Your Father’s premiere ended with another twist, as Sophie revealed the exact night she met her son’s dad–any man from that night, including Jesse, Sid, and Charlie, is a candidate. With it being more than likely that How I Met Your Father viewers have already met the dad, it seemed that the spinoff would just be a story of how Sophie went from meeting the father to actually ending up with him.
Another twist ending for How I Met Your Mother’s shows may be slightly disappointing to some viewers, but the clues so far have hinted at this being a reality. Alongside comments from Future Sophie and a key detail about her onscreen appearances, How I Met Your Father may have already spoiled that Hilary Duff’s Sophie doesn’t end up with the title character. While such a twist ending made HIMYM’s finale extremely divisive, Sophie and the father not ending up together in How I Met Your Father can work better than the original show.
Future Sophie Isn’t Wearing A Wedding Ring
Ever since How I Met Your Father’s pilot, eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a major reveal about Kim Cattrall’s Future Sophie: she isn’t wearing a wedding ring when telling her son the story. While not wearing a wedding ring doesn’t necessarily mean that Sophie and the father don’t end up together, it’s a strong hint that they’re not. This reveal seems to be intentional, mostly because the spinoff made an active choice to have Future Sophie onscreen rather than just through voiceovers, like HIMYM’s Future Ted. Although viewers eventually found out that Ted and Tracy did not end up together in How I Met Your Mother due to her untimely death, Future Ted never gave any indication that he wasn’t with the mother in 2030 until season 9.
Future Ted always spoke fondly of his love for Tracy, which led viewers to believe that they would still be husband and wife when he’s telling the story. Had Bob Saget’s Future Ted appeared onscreen rather than Penny and Luke, HIMYM would have already exposed long before that something would tear Ted and Tracy apart. In How I Met Your Mother’s finale episode, Josh Radnor’s Future Ted is shown onscreen with his hands folded and no wedding ring as he finishes telling his kids the story. The missing wedding ring in 2050 must, then, be an intentional choice in revealing Sophie’s twist ending for How I Met Your Father.
HIMYF Theory: Sophie Doesn’t End Up With The Father In The Finale
Sophie’s missing wedding ring suggests that she won’t end up with the dad in How I Met Your Father’s finale. It’s still the intentional detail that makes it far more likely that they split long before. Sophie and the dad not ending up together in How I Met Your Father could go the controversial route by killing him off in the finale, but this would open up the spinoff to plenty of backlash after HIMYM’s controversial ending. As is also possible, perhaps Sophie and the father got divorced before she decided to tell her son the story of how he came about. Sophie and the father not being married could also mean that she just became pregnant by the mystery man and the two decided not to wed. Sophie and the father have dated or had a hookup that ended in a pregnancy, which could have meant the two raising the child together but just deciding to remain friends or amicable co-parents.
While How I Met Your Mother’s twist ending for Ted and the mother was influenced by a tragic occurrence, it’s unlikely that Sophie’s resolution in How I Met Your Father repeats these circumstances. Two people not ending up together doesn’t always mean tragedy; it often signifies that they weren’t meant for each other in that manner. The 2050 Sophie narrator is still glady recalling memories of the men like Jesse, Sid, and Charlie who could very likely be the father, but she rarely speaks about them in an affectionate manner. Even before Jesse and Sophie kiss for the first time, she simply refers to him as a “certain someone,” which could hint at any sort of amicable relationship. If any of How I Met Your Father’s three main male characters are the father, it appears they and Sophie have at least stayed friendly since having their son.
HIMYF Twist Ending Can Be Even Better Than HIMYM’s
Even though HIMYM’s finale with Ted and Tracy not ending up together met substantial backlash, How I Met Your Father’s similar twist ending can end in a more compelling manner. Plenty of marriages end in divorce, while plenty of other children are born without their parents having ever been married – it’s not unreasonable to assume that Hilary Duff’s Sophie could have split with the father before telling the story. This revelation is also supported by the notion that Future Sophie hasn’t spoken about the mysterious father in a way that hints she’s still in love with him, unlike Future Ted in regards to Tracy. While it would typically make more sense for a parent to tell their kids this story when still married to the other parent, How I Met Your Father episode 1 reveals that Sophie has been drinking a lot of wine. If she and the father didn’t end up together, the idea to tell the story was likely just brought on by reminiscing about her youth while tipsy.
How I Met Your Father also already has the advantage of knowing how controversial HIMYM’s twist ending was, which hints that Sophie and the father not ending up together will be accomplished in a more satisfying manner. HIMYM’s finale was criticized as a disservice to Tracy’s character by killing her off so Ted could end up with Robin, largely because How I Met Your Mother was inherently Ted and Tracy’s story. If Future Sophie ends up with another How I Met Your Father character other than the title dad, their resolution would feel much better earned if Sophie had already divorced the father or never married him in the first place. As long as How I Met Your Father gets to the ending in a way that feels deserved, it will already be a step up from HIMYM’s finale in the eyes of many viewers.
The basic premise of HIMYM and How I Met Your Father makes it seem that ending up with the mother/father is the happy ending, but marriage doesn’t always signify this. Rather, Future Sophie genuinely seems happy as an accomplished photographer raising her son in 2050, so not ending up with the father won’t necessarily make her story tragic or dissatisfying. While Future Sophie not wearing a wedding ring hints How I Met Your Father will repeat the twist of the mystery parent not being the protagonist’s endgame partner, the spinoff has the opportunity to work toward this ending in a more rewarding fashion than HIMYM.