Barney Stinson is back. Neil Patrick Harris will be returning to Hulu‘s How I Met Your Father for the series’ upcoming Season 2 midseason finale, which airs at the end of the month.
Harris made a surprise return to his HIMYM character Barney Stinson in the Season 2 premiere of the spinoff series. He is expected to play quite a pivotal role. Hulu gave a first look at his appearance in the upcoming episode, which is the photo at the top of the post.
In the final beats of the episode titled “Cool and Chill,” the timeline shifts to a year after the events earlier in the episode. Sophie leaves her mom Lori (Paget Brewster) a hysterical voicemail saying she thinks she is dating her father before suddenly crashing into a luxury SUV. When the driver’s side door opens, the victim is revealed to be Barney. He shrugs and tells Sophie, “Dude!” just as the bumper falls off the Audi onto the sidewalk.
When future Sophie (Kim Cattrall) is asked by her son who that guy is she replies, “We’ll get there soon enough.”
The two-episode midseason finale will stream on Hulu on March 28. Season 2 will continue with additional episodes on May 23 with a new episode each Tuesday through the 2-episode season finale on July 11.
Harris played Barney for nine seasons of HIMYM. After first meeting Ted (Josh Radnor) in a pub, he quickly considers himself part of the gang. The serial womanizer of the group, Barney usually rejected any form of commitment and had a string of debauchery in the early seasons of the series. His on-again-off-again relationship with Robin (Cobie Smulders) eventually turned into marriage, though the pair divorced three years later.
