The newest episode of How I Met Your Father is going to inspire some major déjà vu.
In the second-to-last episode of season one, the writers brought back Becky (Laura Bell Bundy) and George Van Smoot, a.k.a. The Captain (Kyle Maclachlan), to help Sophie (Kim Cattrall) tell the story of how she met her son's father.
In the opening scene, Becky walks in on George with another woman, though it's unclear whether this moment is happening in the past or present. All Sophie reveals is that "this affair will be important later."
Series creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger told TV Line that this scene was a long time in the making but kept the details of Becky and The Captain's story line a secret. As Aptaker put it, "People are going to have to wait and find out."
We're more than willing to wait, as the creators admitted that the moment almost didn't happen at all.
At the time of filming, MacLachlan was working on a project in Australia, so there were some worries that COVID-19 protocol and travel restrictions would keep him from appearing in the spin-off. Shared Aptaker, "We had to have this back-pocket plan that it would have been a new invention of this affluent, New York socialite couple. But our first choice, of course, was to use The Captain."
Ultimately, MacLachlan got the green light to travel back to Los Angeles, where he was able to reunite with Laura, who was already stateside.
As for why the creators waited until the penultimate episode to invite in some OG characters, they said they wanted to let the How I Met Your Father stars, including Hilary Duff and Francia Raisa, have their well-deserved moment in the spotlight. "Towards the end of this season felt like the right time to dip our toes into the water," Aptaker explained, "and bring some of those beloved characters back."
And Berger knew fans would appreciate the reintroduction of characters they know and love, "opposed to random people."
To see Maclachlan and Bundy reprise their roles, watch the new episode of Hulu's How I Met Your Father on Tuesday.