'How I Met Your Mother' won't officially return for a ninth and final season until September 23, but already this week has been bursting with new previews of the gang's final year together. Following the photos from season 9 premiere "The Locket / "Coming Back," the first promo with new footage of the final year has arrived, while creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas preview a potential 10th year, and the 8th season finale that never was!

First and foremost, the newest promo for 'How I Met Your Mother's final season teases the gang's big goodbye with new footage and old, teasing that Barney and Robin know one of their friends will ultimately ruin the wedding. The real question is, who? Cough, probably Ted, cough.

Elsewhere, the final season of 'How I Met Your Mother' may not prove as final as we've all secretly hope, given the recent Comic-Con 2013 panel proved to be one of the more popular events of the convention, stirring ideas for either a tenth season, or the spinoff that no one has asked for. Says Executive Producer Carter Bays to Entertainment Weekly: “Comic-Con reminded us how many people really love the show, and it would be a shame for the party to end next spring.” No, it wouldn't. We promise.

So even if 'How I Met Your Mother' season 9 conclusively ends the series, how might things have looked if the creators followed through with their original plan to wrap up in season 8? Another interview with both Bays and Thomas at Starry Constellation previewed how the creators were ultimately glad of another year to finally meet the mother:

It went so much deeper into season eight than we wanted it to without knowing. We were kind of planning Plan A and Plan B that we hit a drop date where it had be one or the other and we basically butted right up against that time where we would have had to start writing the way we were going to end it. But the thing that happened once we realized it wasn't the ending is we had the idea to meet the mother before Ted. I'm so glad it worked out the way it did because I think it was such an appropriate way in year eight and we will get to know her in year nine. And it may not have happened in the same way if we hadn't had one more year. It wouldn't have happened.

So far, the final season of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has recruited such guest stars as ‘Revenge‘ star Roger Bart, ‘The Office‘ star Ellie Kemper, Sherri Shepherd, Wayne Brady and John Lithgow reprising their roles as Barney’s half-brother James and biological father Jerry. In addition to other recent clarifications on the final season’s wedding weekend format, CBS also revealed that all four regulars would meet the mother (Cristin Milioti, herself a newly minted regular) prior to Ted.

Well, what say you? Should 'How I Met Your Mother' be allowed to continue in some format beyond the ninth season, or should it have ended with the eight? Check out the first promo for the new season above, and give us your predictions in the comments!