Tidy end to ‘How I Met Your Mother’
For makers of the beloved CBS sitcom, there’s sadness, joy and a finale that promises to answer every question
Finale “answers so many questions, even questions you never even had,” actress Alyson Hannigan says.
The Mother of all parental-origination stories is — less than two weeks left to wait for it! — coming to an end.
After 208 episodes, CBS’ How I Met Your Mother (Monday, 8 p.m. ET/PT) calls it quits March 31 with a one-hour finale that wraps up the story of Ted (Josh Radnor), his four close friends and his search for the elusive but finally revealed mother (Cristin Milioti).
“It’s got the right amount of everything. It’s happy, it’s sad, it’s funny, it’s informative. It answers so many questions, even questions you never even had,” says Alyson Hannigan, who plays Lily.
Mother, framed by a 2030 Ted (voiced by Bob Saget) telling his children tales of young adulthood in New York, was well received by critics but not an instant hit at its start in 2005. But the show has become a strong player, especially among young adults, where it ranks second among CBS shows.
The final week of shooting mixed sadness with a feeling of pride and joy, says executive producer Carter Bays. He and co-creator Craig Thomas knew how the show would end years ago, recording a finale scene in 2006, before the actors playing the kids grew up. “It was literally locked in a safe.”
Although fan talk revolved around the mother’s identity, revealed as last season ended, that was never the show’s focus, Radnor says.
“When we introduced her, it was saying (that the show) has never really been about that. This is a framework device to tell a story about a group of people growing up together,” he says.
Viewers want to know how the story ends for Ted; his “Bro Code” buddy, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris); Barney’s fiancée, Robin (Cobie Smulders); spouses Lily and Marshall (Jason Segel); and the mother. Many reacted strongly to a recent episode, interpreting a 2024 conversation between Ted and the mother to mean she may be dead by the time Ted tells their children how they met.
“We knew it would rock some worlds,” Bays says. “These last few episodes, a lot of stuff happens.”
There are no plans for a reunion or for the Mother characters to pop up on How I Met Your Dad, a pilot for a potential spinoff series that tells a first-encounter story from a woman’s viewpoint and exists “in a different universe,” Bays says. “What I like about the ending of this series is it really ends. We close the book and say everything we need to say. It’s not really a fadeout. It’s more of an exclamation point.”