Neil Patrick Harris makes a surprise cameo in ‘How I Met Your Father’ Season 2

Neil Patrick Harris is back to reprise his legendary role of Barney Stinson on Season 2 of ‘How I Met Your Father.’

Originally starring in the CBS series ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ Harris is back in his iconic suit-and-tie look as a guest star on the Hulu spin-off starring Hilary Duff.

The series follows a woman named Sophie (Duff) as she tells her son the story of how she met his father when she was younger.

In the first episode of Season 2, Sophie calls her mom with worries about the fact that she might be dating her father, leading her to crash into a vehicle once the call ends. To viewers’ surprise, we find out the car belongs to Barney, who simply responds to the crash with his iconic line from the original series “Dude!”

What does Barney’s return mean for ‘How I Met Your Father’?

Although it was a short cameo, show creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger revealed this won’t be the last time Harris is on their screens, telling TV Line Barney will have a “major impact” on this season.

“Whenever we talk about bringing back a member of the original crew, you want it to serve two purposes: You want to give some tidbits about what is going on in their lives, where they’ve landed and where they’re at,” Aptaker said.

“But it’s also about how they impact the ‘How I Met Your Father’ story, and how they send one of our characters in a new, unexpected direction. Similar to Robin last year, we’ll learn some more about where Barney’s at, but it’ll also have a major impact on the trajectory, and main narrative, of our season.”

When the idea of bringing Barney back was first discussed, Berger revealed that they immediately planned a zoom call with Harris to brainstorm how it would come about.

“We wanted to bring him back, and we wanted him to be true to his character and to the fans that loved Barney so much,” Berger said. “But we also wanted him to exist on our show, in our time, in a way that made sense.”

Is Barney, Sophie’s unknown father?

Many fans of both the original series and the spin-off have started the theory that Harris’ character is Sophie’s father. The conspiracy comes from the fact that when ‘How I Met Your Mother’ ended, Barney was divorced and a dad to Ellie.

Aptaker quickly shut down the rumor, telling TV Line the math timeline just wouldn’t add up.

“We’re not telling a teen dad story. I think given Lori’s age, that’d become a pretty uncomfortable story.” Aptaker said.

Who stars in ‘How I Met Your Father?’

Besides both Duff and Harris, the hit Hulu show stars actors and actresses such as Francia Raisa, Chris Lowell, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Kim Cattrall, Tien Tran, Ashley Reyes, Josh Peck, Daniel Augustin, Stony Blyden, and more.