Hilary Duff on why she didn’t think she was the right person to lead the cast of How I Met Your Father

The actor was hesitant to be in a spin-off of a ‘beloved show’ prior to accepting the lead role

Hilary Duff has admitted that she was initially hesitant to take on the lead role in new romantic comedy series How I Met Your Father.

The actor, who plays lovestruck photographer Sophie in the spin-off of How I Met Your Mother, revealed her initial doubts about getting on board with the project, out of fear she wouldn’t be right for the part.

When first contacted about the role by showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, Duff was nine months pregnant with her third child and recently married for the second time. As a result, she wasn’t sure if she’d be the best choice for the character.

“‘Why are you calling me? I’m about to have a baby. You want me for this role of this thirtysomething girl who doesn’t have kids?’” she recalled saying, in an interview with The New York Times.

“Obviously, the title scared me a lot. I was not into doing a reboot, and it was such a beloved show. That cast was incredible together, so buttoned up and tight.”

However, her fears were calmed when Aptaker explained that the concept of the show wasn’t trying to replace the original, which ran from 2005 to 2014.

Duff continued: “Then Isaac was like, it’s a sequel. No one’s trying to be this person or that person. The cast is off on their own adventure.”

Hilary Duff and Chris Lowell in ‘How I Met Your Father’ (himyf)

She then explained how her love for the character further convinced her to take on the challenge, as Sophie’s experiences of dating differ from her own; unlike Sophie, Duff never “just dated and tried and fell on [her] face a bunch”.

“I definitely have had struggles,” the actor remembers, “but not in that way of like, ‘Where am I going to land? Am I just a loser?’

“Sophie is a romantic. She has this idea that her person’s out there, but she’s going to learn that she’s got to make herself whole first.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Duff addresses the indefinite stalling of the highly anticipated Lizzie McGuire reboot after she and Disney executives had contrasting ideas of how the title character, whom she played as a teenager, would navigate life as an adult.

“I was not really willing to bend, because of the age that Lizzie is, and they weren’t willing to bend, and we politely and lovingly paused. It’s not dead. And it’s not alive. I’m always here to explore that character because it’s such a big part of me. You never know.”

How I Met Your Father premieres on Disney in the UK on 9 March.