Indie 'It' Woman Greta Gerwig To Play The Mother In 'How I Met Your Dad'

Indie actress no more. Greta Gerwig will star in the upcoming CBS spinoff, "How I Met Your Dad," with the producers (Carter Bays and Craigg Thomas) of its near parallel (Mother ~ Dad) "How I Met Your Mother" backing the project, NPR reported.

First, the show needs to make it to the air, which CBS will determine after watching a pilot that hasn't been shot yet. With Gerwig's (indie) star power, Bays, Thomas, and the overall (yet inconsistent) success of HIMYM, impressing the network executives would appear to be a safe bet. Plus, an actress of Gerwig's chops, coming off an award-winning performance in "Frances Ha," which she co-wrote, isn't going to waste her time with a pilot that can't fly.

The 34 year-old actress will play a woman one year into an uncertain marriage (which, presumably, she ends to meet "Dad"). According to Entertainment Weekly, the show will stay true to the flashback format. Details regarding other actors/actresses, plot points, etc., however, have not yet been released (at least in the vicinity of my internet research).

Back in the day, television shows didn't usually require established stars; they made them. Today, more shows are signing big names as programs have become more cinematic like "The Following," "The Good Wife," "True Detective," and more. Still, there is still a greater space in TV than movies for a relatively anonymous production, like the country's most watched show, "The Walking Dead." HIMYM was interesting in that its lead character, Ted Mosby, wasn't played by a household name, but three of his supporting actors -- Allison Hanigan, Jason Segel, and Neil Patrick Harris -- were highly known stars beforehand (really beforehand for Harris).

With Gerwig as the lead, will HIMYD do the opposite and surround her with smaller names?

If the rumors are true and we'll soon be watching how Greta Gerwig's meets the father of her children (the better the show, the longer it'll take to happen), it could be good for fans like me, who struggle to form a mental picture of the versatile actress when she isn't on screen. Like Lady Gaga and her many costumes, Gerwig and her many different types of roles (her appearnace is startling plain in the odd Ben Stiller indie, "Greenberg") make it hard to remember what she actually looks like, and decide what she looks like. I guess that's what being an indie star is all about. Now that she'll be aired on a weekly basis, confused fans like me will remember Gerwig's face like we remember those of more traditional stars like Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts.