How I Met Your Father’s Place In HIMYM Timeline Clarified By New Cameo

How I Met Your Father’s place in the How I Met Your Mother timeline has been clarified by co-creator Isaac Aptaker after the latest HIMYM cameo.

Another How I Met Your Mother character’s cameo on How I Met Your Father has clarified the new show’s place in the overall HIMYM timeline. How I Met Your Mother was a sitcom staple during its nine-season run from 2005 to 2014, and the concept was so unique that it spawned a spinoff with the gender roles flipped. Kim Catrall has taken on Bob Saget’s role as the narrator, and Hillary Duff stars as Catrall’s younger self.

Speaking with TVLine, How I Met Your Father co-creator Isaac Aptaker discussed Alexis Denisof’s return as sleazy newsman Sandy Rivers. During season 9 of HIMYM, Ted Mosby, who Hillary Duff wants to see a cameo from in HIMYF, reveals that Rivers had been “canceled” due to his workplace misconduct and subsequently forced to work in Russia, but it was never specified when that happened. With Rivers’ return in season 2 of How I Met Your Father, Aptaker confirmed that the events of the spinoff occur before he heads out to Moscow. Read the full quote below.

He’s [still] on his way down. The original show was ahead of its time ‘canceling’ Sandy.

Related: That ’90s Show And How I Met Your Father Dodge The Same Sitcom Spinoff Issue

Every HIMYM Cameo On HIMYF So Far

Denisof, who is married to Lily Aldrin actress Alyson Hannigan, may not be done with Rivers either, as co-creator Elizabeth Berger has said that she’d love to have him make another appearance as the unsavory newsman. Denisof is hardly the first How I Met Your Mother character to make a surprise appearance on the spinoff either. The first two HIMYM veterans to have cameo were Kyle MacLachlan as The Captain and Laura Bell Bundy as Becky, with both appearing in the final two episodes of season 1 of HIMYF.

During the season 1 finale, HIMYF brought back Carl the bartender, played by Joe Nieves, and saw Cobie Smulders return as Robin Scherbatsky, making her the first member of the main cast to appear in the spinoff. The cameo helped to fill in some of the blanks that HIMYM left for Robin while also allowing her to impart some wisdom on Duff’s Sophie.

A prominent HIMYM cameo came in the premiere of season 2, when Neil Patrick Harris made his return as serial womanizer Barney Stinson. Barney’s cameo occurs in a flash forward where he gets into a fender-bender with Sophie. With Barney returning later in the season the​​​​​​​ How I Met Your Father team have also teased at more “insane​​​​​​​” HIMYM cameos to come in season 2.

More: Did How I Met Your Father Just Reveal Who The Dad Is?

Source: TVLine