How I Met Your Father has a star-studded cast featuring the likes of Kim Cattrall and Hilary Duff, but there's another famous face starring in the show - and she's just as much as a TV icon.

The series, which finally has a release date for the UK (more on that later), also stars Leighton Meester – our very own Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girl – though her appearance is brief in the early episodes. 

Never fear, though, because show runner Isaac Aptaker has already hinted that she will appear in further episodes, telling Us Weekly: "Just having Leighton Meester in that one little viral video certainly seems like a waste of Leighton Meester. I think that it is reasonable to expect that she’ll be returning at some point."

Cryptic. Without giving too much away, Leighton plays Meredith, the ex-girlfriend of Jesse (played by Christopher Lowell) – one of the male characters on the show who could turn out to be Sophie's (played by Kim Cattrall, narrating from the future) baby daddy – hence How I Met Your Father. Make sense?

Though Leighton only makes a cameo, if that, in the first episode, we reckon Meredith's story will unfold further.

The cast of HIMYF is packed with pop culture faces, actually, depending on your childhood TV choices. Of course Hilary Duff, who plays a young Sophie in the spin-off, is best known as Disney teen queen Lizzie McGuire – "Sing to me, Paolo" etc etc – though she also starred in Gossip Girl alongside Leighton for a short time.

Then there's Josh Peck, who plays Drew in HIMYF – remember him from his Nickelodeon days? He was one half of Drake and Josh, and also starred on The Amanda Show.

You might also recognise Christopher Lowell who played Piz, Veronica's lovable love interest in Veronica Mars. He also appeared in Private Practice and GLOW.

How I Met Your Father has been airing in the States on Hulu since January, but it's been confirmed that it will launch on Disney+ for UK viewers on March 9. Not long to wait!

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