‘How I Met Your Mother’: Alyson Hannigan Used to Think the Show Would Be Prematurely Cancelled
How I Met Your Mother is one of the most popular TV shows of the past two decades. It aired in 2005 and ran for nine seasons until its finale in 2014.
It’s hard to imagine HIMYM ending during the first season, but actor Alyson Hannigan (Lily Aldrin) did think the show could get prematurely cancelled.
Why Alyson Hannigan thought ‘HIMYM’ would be prematurely cancelled
It’s not always easy to tell how far a show would go. For HIMYM, critics initially had good responses to the pilot, which made Hannigan think it would get the ax.
“Honestly, when the first pilot [episode] was aired, usually it was said that if the critics liked the pilot, chances were that the show would be cancelled in the future,” Hannigan told Hindustan Times in 2017. “That’s what happened with us as well. After the pilot was aired, critics loved [it] and we thought, ‘Oh, my God, this show will be cancelled (laughs)’.”
Fortunately, HIMYM continued filming, and Hannigan returned season after season.
She said, “It kept going, and after the first two seasons, it became this really big show, with people from across the globe talking about it. It just kept growing and growing, and frankly we did not expect it.”
Alyson Hannigan thinks Victoria could have been the Mother
As many fans know, the main character, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), dated many girls throughout the course of the show. If HIMYM had ended earlier on, one of his girlfriends at the time would have become the titular Mother. In fact, Hannigan wanted Ted’s girlfriend Victoria from season one to have this special role.
“Early on, I wanted Victoria to be the mom,” Hannigan told Huffpost in 2015. “I guess Carter [Bays, producer] later said had we got canceled she would’ve been the mom.”
Hannigan added, “But, you know, somebody great would come on [the show] and we would be like, ‘Yeah, we want her to be the mom.’ So it was sort of just like whoever was on for a long period of time. We’re like, ‘Let her be the mom. Let her.’ We just loved everybody.”
The ending for ‘HIMYM’ left fans divided
It’s not clear how HIMYM would have ended had the show been cancelled much earlier. However, what fans know is that the actual ending got mixed responses from people.
Viewers met Ted’s wife and titular Mother, Tracy McConnell (Cirstin Milioti), in the final episode of season 8. Then, fans got to know her more throughout season 9. Finally, the final two episodes of the series gave fans glimpses into her life with Ted.
Unfortunately, after having two children with Ted, Tracy dies from an undisclosed illness. Afterwards, Ted realizes he still has feelings for his ex-girlfriend Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders). The show ends with Ted and Robin getting back together in the final scene.
Fans have given a lot different reasons for why they did not like this ending. Some thought it was rushed, while others thought it discarded any character growth some of the main characters had.
