How I Met Your Father's Is Wasting Kim Cattrall's Talent - Let's Hope They Fix It

When "How I Met Your Mother" debuted in 2005, nobody involved could have possibly predicted the show would last nine seasons and become one of the most definitive sitcoms of the aughts. The show followed the adventures of Ted, Marshall, Lily, Barney, and Robin as they explore love, loss, and laughter in New York City as told through the dramatized flashbacks of the stories from Future Ted (a voiceover role by the late, great Bob Saget) as he tells his children the story of how he met their children's mother, and how all of the beloved adults in their life fit together as friends. We never actually see Bob Saget in the role, and he chose to be uncredited for 206 episodes before Josh Radnor (who played young Ted) took over as the narrator and storyteller in the show's two-part series finale).

Hulu recently debuted the spin-off series "How I Met Your Father," starring Hilary Duff as thirty-something Sophie, with Future Sophie played by the incomparable Kim Cattrall. I say "played," because Future Sophie is not just an uncredited voice-over, but a fully-visible character narrating and re-telling the story in front of our very eyes, as she seems to be speaking to her son via video-chat or some other future-tech (it's 2050 where she is, after all). Getting to see Future Sophie is a huge change compared to the original series, but unfortunately, Cattrall is woefully underutilized.

I know she's not supposed to be the focus of the show, but if we're going through the lengths of actually seeing Future Sophie on screen, she deserves to do more than drink wine and look hot. Granted, I'm never going to complain about Cattrall drinking wine and looking hot as a general statement, but with her presence absolutely missed on the "Sex and the City" spin-off "And Just Like That" on HBO Max, it's hard not to crave a bigger presence on the show. If they wanted her to be as out-of-sight, out-of-mind as Future Ted, they shouldn't have given us the gift of Cattrall in front of our faces.

There's a hope-filled romanticized view of the dating world from Duff's version of Sophie, while Cattrall's Sophie is bringing the wisdom and processing she's been able to do after all this time. Cattrall's Sophie has already been commenting about how different the world was in 2022 compared to her current 2050 existence, which allows for the perfect opportunity to let us see more of that reminiscing. Getting to know Future Sophie better allows the audience space for a bigger investment in her growth. I genuinely do want to see how this starry-eyed thirtysomething smiling in the shower over a text message from a guy she's never met turns into a woman with the confidence of Kim f****** Cattrall sipping wine on all-white furniture in a beige and white outfit.

Maybe it's personal bias and selfishness, but I truly believe there's no such thing as too much Kim Cattrall. She's a powerhouse scene-stealer I can't get enough of, which is probably why I feel so disappointed with her not having a bigger presence on the show. It just feels like I'm being given Chekhov's Kim Cattrall. If you're going to show me Kim Cattrall, make sure she's being utilized as much as possible. Let her crack more jokes! Let her drink more wine! Give me an awkward scene of her child asking what "FOMO" means and Cattrall getting to show the inverse of an "Ok, boomer" clapback! Then again, there are only two episodes out on Hulu, so there's the possibility that she'll have a bigger role in future episodes and I can eat crow and take back all of my whining in this piece. Until then, however, I'm going to continue to sulk in the corner that I don't get any Kim Cattrall on "And Just Like That" and not nearly enough Kim Cattrall on "How I Met Your Father."