'How I Met Your Father' Is Latest Hulu Series Cancelation

The Hilary Duff sitcom, "How I Met Your Father," has been cut from Hulu's lineup after only two seasons, per TV Line. The show is the latest to get the axe this week, and the series ends its run after two seasons and 30 episodes. The news comes less than two months after the second season concluded on Hulu.

The show was a spinoff of the iconic, popular sitcom, "How I Met Your Mother," which ran for nine seasons of 208 episodes from 2005 to 2014 on CBS. Set eight years after the finale of the original series, "How I Met Your Father" follows a new group of friends, Sophie (Duff), Jesse (Chris Lowell), Valentina (Francia Raisa), Charlie (Tom Ainsley), Ellen (Tien Tran), and Sid (Suraj Sharma).

Similar to the original series, it's told from the perspective of the 58-year-old Sophie (voiced by Kim Cattrall; with Bob Saget serving as the narrator of the original series). However, in "How I Met Your Father," it was already established how Sophie met her kids' dad.

In the show's second season finale, now the series finale, Sophie got together with her potential father of her children Jesse. Meanwhile, another potential father candidate, Sid, saw his marriage to Hannah dissolve. Also, the final scene revealed that Valentina and Charlie would eventually have a son named Alex. Previously, the couple had broken up because Charlie never wanted to have kids.

While "How I Met Your Father" largely told its own story and followed its own group of characters, it was established that the show was set in the same timeline or universe as "How I Met Your Mother." The show featured cameos from the stars of the original series making guest appearances, including Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky, Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, and Kyle McLachlan ("Twin Peaks") as The Captain.

The show was not very well-liked by critics with a 35% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes with a 63% audience score. Also, the show never quite had the level of buzz or pop-cultural exposure that "How I Met Your Mother" did. However, the original series came on at a time before TV viewing had heavily shifted over to streaming, and network shows were still doing sizable numbers.

The news comes days after Hulu cut the acclaimed historical dramedy series, "The Great," after three seasons, which garnered multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Also, it appears several streaming shows are in danger of being canceled at the moment. As previously reported by The Blast, rival streamer Amazon Prime Video cut its original shows, "The Peripheral" and "A League of Their Own," from its streaming lineup despite ordering renewals on both.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, "How I Met Your Father" went through multiple iterations before it was picked up and ordered to series by Hulu in 2021. At one point, it nearly starred "Little Women" and "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig.

Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger created "How I Met Your Father," and they also executive produced the series, collaborating with original "How I Met Your Mother" creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. Both seasons of "How I Met Your Father" are still available to stream now on Hulu.