'How I Met Your Father' Is 'Not A Reboot' But Standalone Sequel, Says Show’s Co-Creator

“How I Met Your Father” is a standalone sequel and not a reboot of the long-running sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," the former's co-creator Isaac Aptaker has said.

Aptaker was speaking during a virtual press tour Tuesday organized by the Television Critics Association ahead of the show’s premiere on Jan. 18. “People keep referring to the show as a ‘reboot,’ and it’s not a reboot,” he said, and instead referred to the series as a “standalone sequel,” TVLine reported.

The 10-episode Hulu series stars Hilary Duff, Francia Raisa, Christopher Lowell, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, Suraj Sharma and Josh Peck.

The show is set in the year 2021, and tells the story of how Sophie (Duff) and her close friends navigate life and love in "the age of dating apps and limitless options," CNN reported, citing a press release describing the show.

Despite the involvement of the creators of “How I Met Your Mother” -- Carter Bays and Craig Thomas -- and its director and executive producer, Pamela Fryman, in the new show, Aptaker explained “How I Met Your Father” is set “in the world of the previous show, but it’s really its own thing."

“One thing that I can take away from it, having been on ‘How I Met Your Mother’ for so long, is that this is not ‘How I Met Your Mother’ — and I loved ‘How I Met Your Mother,’” Fryman also said, during the press conference. “This is ‘How I Met Your Father,' and it is so spectacular in its own right…. From the first day on stage with masks on, we started rehearsing and instantly knew we had something.”

Last month, “How I Met Your Father” dropped its trailer featuring Kim Cattrall as the narrator and the older version of Sophie.

Watch the trailer of “How I Met Your Father” below:

Duff, who is also one of the producers of the show, said, “I think it’s important to know that we are our own show… We’re trying to create something original [while] stealing a few things from them that worked really well.”