Warning: Contains spoilers for How I Met Your Father episode 4.
In older Ted Mosby (Bob Saget) was never seen, but his children were shown listening to his storytelling. This caused some problems that the new series sidesteps as the actors for the children got older and it was hard to hide that Ted had been telling this story for nearly a decade.
In How I Met Your Father, little is known about Sophie’s (Kim Cattrall) son. Sophie speaks to him through a video call, but he is never seen or even named, with Sophie using voice recognition to call him in the pilot purely saying, “house, call my son.” Sophie’s son is not even included in the credits, despite having a speaking role, so his actor’s identity remains unknown. This lack of information helps to keep some mystery as to the identity of the father as his appearance or name might give the game away.
In How I Met Your Father episode 4, “Dirty Thirty,” the TV series finally gives some clues to the audience about the character’s age. The episode shows that Sophie (Hilary Duff) is turning 30 in 2022, meaning that she is 58 in 2050. The risks associated with pregnancy grow exponentially at around 40, so unless there are apparent improvements in medicine, it is safe to assume that Sophie’s son is at least 18. It is likely that he is not that much older than this, however, as in How I Met Your Father episode 4 as he says he never thinks about turning 30 as it is “so old.” This suggests that Sophie’s son is somewhere between 18 and 23.
This age is further ed when combined with evidence from How I Met Your Father episode 1. When Sophie calls her son, he says that he just finished studying. While it is possible that Sophie and his father are separated and he is studying for high school at another location, the information in How I Met Your Father episode 4 suggests that he is older than this and is most likely in college. That would again suggest that he is between 18 and 22, assuming a standard four-year degree program in the United States.
All of this, of course, makes some assumptions about how Sophie’s son in How I Met Your Father. If Sophie adopted her son then it is possible that he is younger then some of these calculations go out the window. In many ways, it would make sense for Sophie’s son to be adopted as it would help the show to call back to some of the difficulties shown in Robin’s How I Met You Mother journey related to her infertility. Additionally, if Sophie’s son is adopted then it would serve as important representation of the choice to adopt alongside the character of Ellen (Tien Tran).
How I Met Your Father releases new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.