Haaaaaave you met Sophie's potential future baby daddy? If you've watched the How I Met Your Father pilot, then the answer to that question is yes, yes you have. Unlike its sister (brother?) show How I Met Your Mother, HIMYF narrows down the candidates for the future father to just four suspects: Valentina's boyfriend Charlie, Uber driver Jesse, the recently engaged Sid, and her perfect Tinder date Ian.
Interestingly, Kim Cattrall's future Sophie subtly hints that the father may not be her one true love — unlike Ted, who led viewers to believe they were watching his journey to find the mother of his children only to ultimately have the mother be more of a footnote on his way to finally reuniting with their Aunt Robin. By contrast, the Sophie of the future isn't wearing a wedding ring and never once mentions anything about the father being the love of the life. Which means he could just be a love in her life — or maybe even just someone she happens to share a child with.
It's an unexpected twist, and it's one that means any one of the four guys could be the future father of her son — even though there's one character who has already set himself apart from the others. With that in mind, allow me to offer up my ranking of the potential dads by how likely they are to have a real connection with Sophie.
4. Charlie
Valentina's British beau feels like the least likely suspect by a mile. There is a chance that his wide-eyed little rich boy routine will give way to deeper character development later on, but for now, his lack of depth combined with the fact that he's dating Sophie's best friend suggests he's out of the running. I won't rule out the duo having a drunken, ill-advised fling at some point in the series, but I will be shocked if he's the father of Sophie's child.
3. Ian
This might be controversial, but I don't think Ian is the dad. However, I do think he's the one. If future Sophie is in a relationship, then chances are high it's with the one who got away. The show went to great lengths to show just how strong the connection between these two characters is, and even though they're a world apart in 2022, I suspect their time will come after her relationship with the dad crashes and burns.
2. Sid
Sid is a major dark horse contender. Think about it: his engagement is clearly doomed, he has an easy sense of humor that would balance out Sophie's constant cheerfulness, they're both romantics, and the drama it would cause between Sid and his best friend Jesse would make for good TV. Any relationship between Sid and Sophie would be complicated, and come on, HIMYF has to have a love triangle to rival Ted/Robin/Barney, right? Jesse/Sophie/Sid would do just that.
1. Jesse
Jesse is the Robin to Sophie's Ted. He's a cynic who is somehow charmed by a woman who believes in true love against all odds. These two are definitely going to fall in love, and they'll probably share a child, but unlike Ted and Robin their happy ending will most likely prove to be elusive. Instead, their short-lived romance could drive home the point that sometimes people are meant to be together for a little while, even if they're not each other's person forever.
By narrowing down the suspect list, HIMYF is making gathering clues a little bit easier than HIMYM did. But the potential for twists is still high, so it's far too early to count anyone out completely at this point.
Images: Hulu