How I Met Your Father’s Leighton Meester Casting Subverts Her Famous Role
Although How I Met Your Father could easily have used guest star Leighton Meester’s famous Gossip Girl role as the basis for her character, the How I Met Your Motherspinoff instead subverted viewer expectations with her part. Throughout How I Met Your Father season 1, Leighton Meester’s Meredith has been a frequently discussed but never-seen presence. As Jesse’s ex, she is spoken of in resentful tones and referred to as a thoughtless, callous figure by much of the cast.
As such, How I Met Your Father fans could have been surprised when the How I Met Your Mother spinoff finally introduced Meredith on-screen. Borrowing a trick from How I Met Your Mother, How I Met Your Father cast Meester against type, with the actor playing Meredith as an unexpectedly reasonable and likable character. Although she had a sneaky tendency to charm people with compliments, Jesse’s ex was far from the monster many viewers may have expected from her actor’s screen CV.
Related: HIMYM Mistakes That How I Met Your Father Needs To Avoid
Until now, How I Met Your Father has cast iconic late ‘00s teen stars such as Hilary Duff and Josh Peck in roles whose personalities mirrored their earlier hits (Lizzie McGuire and Drake & Josh, respectively). Duff’s Sophie has kept many of the qualities that made Lizzie McGuire a lovable anti-heroine, from an idealistic outlook to a charming streak of moral ambiguity, while Peck’s How I Met Your Father love interest Drew is a grown-up version of his precocious, sheltered Drake & Josh character. At first, it seemed as though Meester’s role as Meredith, Jesse’s successful musician ex, would be another rehash of a famous earlier role. Meester made a name for herself by playing the delightfully catty, spoiledGossip
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