The story behind Greta Gerwig’s doomed How I Met Your Mother spin-off

Gerwig takes full responsibility for the project’s failure

Greta Gerwig had a better weekend than most, after her new movie Barbie achieved the biggest box office debut by a female director in history.

The blockbuster film, starring Australian actor Margot Robbie as the iconic doll and Ryan Gosling as Ken, is undoubtedly Gerwig’s biggest commercial success to date, and has also received praise from critics, including a five-star review from The Independent.

The film’s release has invigorated fan interest in Gerwig’s career, which includes the Oscar-nominated coming-of-age films Lady Bird and Little Women, both starring Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet.

Before she rose to greater acclaim as a director, Gerwig also acted in projects including Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama Greenberg in 2010, and in the title role of his 2013 film Frances Ha, which she co-wrote.

Off the back of these critical hits, Gerwig was cast in a spinoff of the hit comedy series How I Met Your Mother, which intended to follow a woman named Sophie (Gerwig) as she recounts the story of how she met her son’s dad.

Sadly, the project was doomed to fail, with Gerwig’s pilot sadly never manifesting into a full series order.

Gerwig herself opened up about why this was the case during a 2017 interview with Stephen Colbert. According to the Frances Ha star, it turns out she was the reason why.

"There was a show called How I Met Your Mother,” she told Colbert. “It was a great show. I loved it. Everyone loves it.”

Gerwig continued: "They were going to make another one called How I Met Your Dad, starring me. We shot the pilot and it was so much fun. I loved working on it. And then they take the pilot to Las Vegas to test it.”

Greta Gerwig explained why the pilot episode failed on Stephen Colbert’s talk show in 2017 (Stephen Colbert)

It was at this screening made up of a test audience that things started going south quickly.

"The audience, they’re given knobs,” Gerwig explained. “They turn the knob to the right if they like it and to the left if they don’t. And apparently, they turned the knob to the left every time I came on. They didn’t like it.”

A second attempt at How I Met Your Father, starring Hilary Duff in the title role, received a better reception with fans in 2021.

Gerwig said that, while she was sad at the time, she’s learned to see the funny side. She certainly had the last laugh, with three Oscar nominations and, if industry buzz is to be believed, more to come following the success of Barbie.

Follow the latest updates on Barbie’s release here.