CBS Taps Alison Bennett to Write 'How I Met Your Mother' Spin-off
"How I Met Your Mother" concluded its run three years ago, but fans of the sitcom will be happy to know that a spin-off is in the works.
According to an exclusive report from Deadline, CBS has enlisted the help of Alison Bennett to write the potential spin-off, titled "How I Met Your Father." Bennett is known for her work on FX's "You're the Worst."
This is not the first time CBS has attempted to get "How I Met Your Father" off the ground, though. After the original series ended, creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, along with Emily Spivey, shot the pilot for "How I Met Your Dad" starring Greta Gerwig, but the deal ultimately fell through.
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However, CBS did not give up on the spin-off. After talks with Bays and Thomas did not produce any results, the network turned to Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger to write the first outline of "How I Met Your Father." But Aptaker and Berger were then promoted to executive producers and co-showrunners of NBC's "This Is Us." Their involvement with the successful show made them too busy to do anything else.
With Bennett now attached to the project, 20th Century TV seems confident that "How I Met Your Father" will make progress.
"We're always on the lookout for fresh, new voices, and Alison's work on 'You're the Worst' has been incredible," 20th TV President of Creative Affairs Jonathan Davis said. "She is completely original, hilariously funny and a big, big talent."
After Aptaker and Berger became unavailable, Fox chairman Dana Walden revealed that new writer/s would be tapped to write something entirely new.
"The studio will try (developing a spinoff) with different writers," Walden previously told the same publication.
"They will be starting from scratch," she added. "It's one that's been slowly cooked. If it's the right idea the right execution, we'll take that."
