How I Met Your Mother’s wide timeline explored the characters’ lives in the present day as well as their future selves in the year 2030, but how long after does How I Met Your Father’s story take place? While How I Met Your Mother’s story technically began in 2005 and ran until 2013 when Robin and Barney get married, the show’s timeline for the future characters officially ended in 2030. After the time when Bob Saget’s Future Ted told the titular story to Luke and Penny and goes to get Robin in the year 2030, nothing of the characters’ futures is known, so How I Met Your Father will hopefully fill in some gaps for the future timeline.
Although it’s unclear whether HIMYM characters will cameo in How I Met Your Father, the 2022 series is technically a spin-off that is set in the same universe. Even without character overlap, How I Met Your Father is apt to include references, Easter eggs, and overt connections to the original's story. Since the story How I Met Your Father’s Sophie is telling her son takes place in the gap between How I Met Your Mother’s controversial finale episode and a future timeline, there will also be plenty of opportunities to directly connect to the original characters based on what is known about them in this time frame. The brand new series is a modern-day take on HIMYM’s premise, but how much later does it actually take place?
The story that Sophie fells her son in How I Met Your Father takes place in the present day of 2022, picking up 9 years after the events of HIMYM's season 9 finale, which was technically set in May 2013 even though the episode aired in March 2014. Future Sophie (Kim Cattrall) narrating the story in the future is set in 2050, so How I Met Your Father’s Bob Saget-driven future timeline occurs 20 years after Robin and Ted presumably get back together in 2030. Since the last details known of How I Met Your Mother’s characters come from Ted’s stories from 2013-2030, How I Met Your Father will be able to fill in 20 years worth of missing character information.
While How I Met Your Mother’s present timeline technically ended in 2013, Future Ted was able to give plenty of details for the characters until 2030, which overlaps with How I Met Your Father’s setting. Since How I Met Your Father begins in 2022, viewers already know that by this time Marshall, now a New York State Supreme Court justice, and Lily have moved out of The Apartment with their kids. Ted and Tracy are married with both kids, Barney Stinson has a two-year-old daughter, and Robin is still a famous news reporter. With Tracy still alive for another two years, it’s possible that How I Met Your Father’s present timeline could include a cameo of Ted and the title mother while they’re married, although it would likely have to take place within the show's first few seasons.
If How I Met Your Father ends up having the same 9-season longevity of its predecessor, its present timeline will surpass that of HIMYM’s future story, as it would go into the year 2031. When considering some of the strange futuristic details that Future Ted included in his story after the year 2013, it will be interesting to see whether How I Met Your Father adapts to his recollections. For instance, if Marshall and Lily appear in the 2022 timeline, will they still wear their aging makeup or show up as how Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan really look in 2022? Since Future Ted didn’t give too many details for How I Met Your Mother’s characters between 2020 and 2030, How I Met Your Father’s first few years will present plenty of brand new information for the universe’s timeline.