You can’t help but applaud the determination to bring How I Met Your Father to the small screen, seeing as it took eight years, a failed pilot, and an additional three stalled attempts to make it happen. Unfortunately, it’s all proven to be for nothing after Hulu pulled the plug on the spin-off series after two seasons.
It’s easy to point the finger at Disney in this instance considering the Mouse House is assimilating more and more of the streaming service, with countless high-profile titles being axed as Bob Iger tightens the purse strings to the dismay of creatives and subscribers everywhere.
That being said, all the effort wasn’t really worth it in the long run, considering the maiden attempt at expanding the sitcom universe was shot way back in 2014 with Barbie director Greta Gerwig among the cast. From there, a further three tries at dragging How I Met Your Father out of development hell occurred, and it was beginning to look as if it would never happen until Hulu stepped in with a series order in April of 2021.
Alas, not even writers and actors being on strike has been able to prevent the show from being tossed out into the cold and unforgiving wilderness of cancellation, although you can expect a campaign to begin imminently to have it revived elsewhere seeing as that’s how these things generally tend to work.
The How I Met Your [Insert Parent Here] saga did at least manage to squeeze out a combined total of 11 seasons and 238 episodes before the axe was swung, though, so it’s not as if it hasn’t had a good run.