How I Met Your Father’s cameos can finally confirm How I Met Your Mother’s biggest theory about whether Ted’s descriptions of Barney were true to the character. So far, four HIMYM characters have made cameos on How I Met Your Father, including The Captain, Becky, Carl the bartender, and Robin Scherbatsky. HIMYM’s Barney Stinson has long been speculated as a perfect crossover character for the two shows, but his appearance would also have the added benefit of confirming a major theory about Ted’s storytelling.
As Future Ted Mosby tells his kids about how he met their mother, Bob Saget’s narrator often dives into elaborate stories about the wild plans, theories, and playboy lifestyle of his friend Barney Stinson. Barney is thus established in HIMYM as a contrast to Ted’s demeanor, as the former is focused on as many one-night stands as possible while Ted is searching for the one love of his life. Since Barney seems to be an enigma due to the exaggerated nature of his entire persona, one of the most popular HIMYM character theories has suggested that he’s never actually been the largely insensitive womanizer Ted made him seem. Rather, Ted was trying to make Barney seem much wilder in order to play up his storytelling and make himself seem like the better match for Robin.
Since Robin’s appearance in How I Met Your Father’s season 1 finale already proved that Ted’s memory may not have been entirely accurate, a Barney cameo can finally reveal the truth of his playboy nature. How I Met Your Father is now told from Sophie’s perspective, which can work to give every HIMYM figure a much more accurate characterization when comparing their descriptions to Ted’s recollections. The unreliable narrator is a crucial aspect to remember in both Ted and Sophie’s stories, but when putting their perspectives together, How I Met Your Father can better represent the true nature of these characters. Since HIMYM‘s Barney Stinson is the character most theorized to be different from how Ted described, his cameo on How I Met Your Father would be integral to better understanding both his and Ted’s motivations.
Barney Stinson actor Neil Patrick Harris has long been a fan of this HIMYM theory, as he believes the character isn’t half as bad as Ted made him seem. If Harris were to return as Barney, but viewed from Sophie’s perspective, it would make sense to see the iconic character portrayed in a much more tame manner for How I Met Your Father. While many would expect to see Barney Stinson’s cameo feature him trying to flirt with Sophie or Valentina with terrible pick-up lines or an elaborate ruse from HIMYM’s The Playbook, How I Met Your Father would likely depict a very different version of the suit-wearing Lothario.
On the other hand, even if How I Met Your Father confirms the HIMYM theory that Barney was never as wild as Ted described, he likely wouldn’t have been the same character in the spinoff’s timeline anyway. HIMYM’s series finale revealed that Barney became the father of a baby named Ellie in 2020, which means he would be raising a toddler during How I Met Your Father’s timeline. Barney had already begun to drop some of his womanizing ways after having a baby, which suggests much of his playboy persona will be gone by the time he’s able to cameo in How I Met Your Father. This doesn’t mean that Barney will be a completely different character in How I Met Your Father, but that he’ll already be a much more toned-down version of his HIMYM personality.
