Around the time that How I Met Your Mother was finishing up its nine-season run back in 2014, a spin-off was put in development and granted a pilot order from CBS. More than two years after CBS passed on the pilot episode of How I Met Your Dad, the project is back in development from This Is Us producers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger.

How I Met Your Mother creators, Carter Bays & Craig Thomas along with Emily Spivey were behind the original spin-off pilot. As the title suggests, the spin-off would use the same framing device as HIMYM only the twist being it's told from the female perspective. Greta Gerwig was cast as Sally (this show's Ted) with rom-com legend Meg Ryan narrating the episodes as the older version of the character just like Bog Saget did throughout HIMYM.

Now titled How I Met Your Father, the new version will be more of a spiritual spin-off and won't feature any of the characters from the original show. According to Deadline, as new series won't feature anybody from HIMYM it's possible that How I Met Your Father could end up on a different network.

Spin-offs are currently enjoying something of a renaissance with The Blacklist, 24, and The Good Wife launching companion TV shows next year. CBS are also in the early stages of developing a Sheldon-centric prequel to their ratings darling The Big Bang Theory, and are currently searching for a young actor to fill Jim Parson's shoes. There's also the small matter of the inevitable spin-off from Game of Thrones, but it will be quite some wait as nothing will happen on that front until the main show wraps up in 2018.