How I Met Your Mother notably has one of the most divisive television finales of all time, which actually gives the spin-off How I Met Your Father has a bigger advantage over the original. After a failed attempt at a How I Met Your Mother role-reversal spin-off titled How I Met Your Dad, Hulu has finally ordered a full season for the upcoming series How I Met Your Father. The show will follow the same general premise as HIMYM, depicting future Sophie (Hillary Duff) recalling the dating lives and shenanigans of her group of New York City 30-somethings best friends while telling the story of how she met her son’s father.

After years of anticipation for Ted meeting his future wife, How I Met Your Mother’s season 8 finale revealed the titular character to audiences. Season 9 then showcased future and present occurrences, getting to know Tracy (Cristin Milioti) both before and after she and Ted become a couple. Cristin Milioti's HIMYM character was well-liked by fans, so it was disappointing that the entire last season focused on her just to kill her off in the finale. As Ted finishes telling the story to his children, he recalls their mother tragically getting sick and passing away, only to reveal the entire point of the story was to get his kids’ permission to date Robin again. HIMYM killing off Tracy for Robin still doesn’t sit right with many viewers, but it does leave hope that How I Met Your Father will avoid repeating such a controversial ending.

Related: HIMYM Mistakes That How I Met Your Father Needs To Avoid

By learning from How I Met Your Mother’s finale controversy, How I Met Your Father has the opportunity to improve upon the core relationship’s resolution. The overwhelming source of controversy for HIMYM’s finale was deciding to kill off Tracy and have Ted end up with Robin instead, which How I Met Your Father can now avoid completely. While some enjoyed the finale and its artistic twist on reality and expectations, many complained that HIMYM’s ending cheapened the entire point of the series, finally getting fans to grow to love Tracy in season 9 as Ted’s soulmate before quickly getting rid of her in preference of Robin and Ted’s off-and-on romance. If How I Met Your Father has the longevity of the original, it knows not to bait audiences with the mysterious father for years just to have Sophie ultimately end up with an alternate love interest instead.

Ted and Tracy in How I Met Your Mother

What audiences always expected from How I Met Your Mother’s finale was Ted ending up with the mother. The series had plenty of red herrings in which one of his girlfriends such as Robin, Stella, or Victoria could have been the mother, but these detours weren’t the problem. Ted telling his kids about his series of girlfriends worked to show his maturity over the years and growth into the kind of man he had to be to meet their mother, so the issue wasn’t that he was primarily shown dating different people. The problem was that these women were supposed to underscore his development, so simply going back to one of them after marrying the mother essentially changes the series’ motivations. How I Met Your Father's series can still show Sophie dating different men before finally finding her future husband, it just needs to avoid repeating HIMYM's ending of killing him off at the last minute in favor of another boyfriend.

Although Hulu likely wants a similar long-running series, How I Met Your Father also has the opportunity to make Sophie’s search for the father more concise and powerful. Spin-off shows don’t always work out, so it’s possible a one-season arc could have an even more satisfying ending by detailing the introduction and relationship between her and the father right off the bat. If How I Met Your Mother hadn’t been picked up for season 2, it was going to end with Victoria being revealed as the mother. It wouldn’t have been the same well-beloved series with the incredible development of its characters, but the ending may have been more satisfying to many viewers with Ted simply ending up with the mother that he spent the season searching for.

Next: How I Met Your Father Will Struggle To Top HIMYM's Perfect Pilot