Hulu's How I Met Your Father announces the series premiere date with a callback to the original series, How I Met Your Mother. How I Met Your Mother originally ran on CBS from 2005 to 2014 and maintained a large fan following. The spin-off, created by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, hopes to reintroduce audiences to what made the original series such a success.

How I Met Your Father is utilizing the same story telling device as its predecessor, telling past events to a child. How I Met Your Father tells the story of life back in the year 2021, where Sophie, portrayed by Hillary Duff, and her friends try to find their dreams, their love, as well as who exactly they are. In November, it was revealed that Kim Cattrall was cast in the series to play the future version of Sophie. Cattrall will be telling the stories to Sophie's son.

Related: How I Met Your Father's Cast Already Fixed A Major HIMYM Issue

Now, How I Met Your Father has announced the series premiere date on their official Twitter page with a callback to How I Met Your Mother. The cast of the new series teased the date by telling audiences to "Wait for it." The long running joke, as well as eventual middle name to Marshall and Lily's son Marvin, was a staple of How I Met Your Mother. The video ends with the announcement of the series premiere, which is January 18, 2021. The tweet can be seen down below:

Having announced the start of production on How I Met Your Father back in September, fans have been "waiting for it" for some time now. To this point, only behind-the-scenes images, in addition to some official looks of the cast, have been revealed. It remains unclear what other callbacks may be made, some notable ones being "Suit up," slap bets, or finding out your close friend is a former pop star from a different county.

With all the success of How I Met Your Mother, it could be very easy for the spinoff to rely on the momentum of the previous series to carry the first season. This, of course, could be as much of a hindrance as it is a blessing, because if How I Met Your Father only uses the previous punchlines, it can take away from the series having its own identity. The two should share similarities, but not be carbon copies of one another. Falling into that pit has led many other reboots and spinoffs to crash before they have the chance to get off the ground.

Although it has relied on longstanding jokes to promote the series, How I Met Your Father has already taken steps to be different from the original. As seen from the first look image of the HIMYF cast, the show highlights a more diverse cast of characters. The modern setting also allows for the exploration of dating through means not featured in How I Met Your Mother, such as Tinder and new social media platforms. Hopefully, these changes allow for the series to discover its own voice and slowly move it away from being the echo of the predecessor.

More: How I Met Your Father Already Has An Advantage Over HIMYM’s Finale

Source: How I Met Your Father