While How I Met Your Mother was, in essence, the story of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and his search for love, no character on the beloved TV sitcom had a more engaging and transformative arc than Barney Stinson. In fact, Neil Patrick Harris’ now iconic character underwent a huge personality change even before the show’s main timeline begins.
For one of the best HIMYM episodes, Season 1’s “Game Night,” co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, with writer Chris Harris, envisioned a shocking origin story for Barney, and looked to none other than the Star Wars movies for inspiration. If this seems like an unlikely choice of a film to model a sitcom episode after, I find your lack of faith disturbing. Allow me to explain…
Barney's Backstory Was Modeled After Darth Vader
On an episode of their How I Met Your Mother rewatch podcast, How We Made Your Mother, about the making of “Game Night,” Thomas and Radnor, with guest Chris Harris, explain that the idea behind the episode was to reveal that Barney Stinson was an entirely different person – a sensitive hippie barista, in particular – before becoming the arrogant, suit-wearing, and highly quotable serial womanizer he is in the early seasons. The catalyst for the idea was to trace his evolution as a sort of villain origin story similar to how the Star Wars prequels follow Anakin Skywalker's transition into the Dark Side as Darth Vader.
Thomas elaborates in the following:
The premise here is, there is someone who is inside of a Darth Vader costume, and there's more to him than meets the eye. And that's so much more interesting than a guy who just hooks up with a lot of women and seems really cool. Like, I wanna see who is that guy really, and that's the best part of this episode.
The parallel between the Sith Lord and Stinson is even overtly spelled out in a scene that shows Barney shedding his long hair, goatee, and hemp hoodie in favor of a clean-shaven look and business attire. The transformation is shot in the same style as when Hayden Christensen's Anakin (who shares his Star Wars role with several actors) is placed in the Vader armor for the first time in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which had been released mere months before the episode aired.
Star Wars Would Be A More Overt Focal Point Of Several More Episodes
Barney’s Darth Vader-inspired origin story in “Game Night” was not even the first time How I Met Your Mother referenced Star Wars, and it certainly would not be the last. In fact, there were several episodes heavily dedicated to creator George Lucas’ series of beloved sci-fi movies.
For instance, in Season 4’s “Do I Know You?,” Ted puts his engagement to Stella (Sarah Chalke) to the test by showing her the 1977 original for the first time. In “Field Trip” from Season 7, Barney becomes convinced his current girlfriend, Nora (Nazanin Boniadi), is lying about her age because she hates Ewoks, based on a theory of his called “The Ewok Line.” A later episode from that same season traces the history of Ted, Marshall, and Barney's tradition of watching the original trilogy every three years, which is also used as a framing device to illustrate how the characters have compared their future aspirations to reality over time.
Being one of the most cherished cinematic franchises ever, it is not uncommon for a comedy show to pay homage to the Star Wars movies (i.e., Family Guy and Robot Chicken, to name just a couple). However, with its clever ways of relating stories of a galaxy far, far away to real life, How I Met Your Mother has the Star Wars parodies I am looking for.
