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How I Met Your Mother creators/executive producers Craig Thomas and Carter Bays had hinted at some big changes to the show in Season 9, which will be the final year, and now we now what that means.

How I Met Your Mother: Season 8 Finale Review

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In How I Met's Season 8 finale, the show took a massive step by finally introducing the Mother of the title, played by stage actress Cristin Milioti (Once).In a statement, Carter Bays said, “It was a pretty big umbrella to fill, casting the title role in a series that's been on the air for eight years. And yet Cristin Milioti is, against all odds, exactly what we were looking for. She made us laugh on 30 Rock, she made us swoon in Once, and her ukulele skills are no joke. We're thrilled to welcome her to the How I Met Your Mother family, and look forward to getting to know her – and the character she plays – much better in the coming final season. And to all the fans, on behalf of all of us writers, cast and crew: Thank you for sticking with us on this wild journey. Our ninth season will tell the epic story of the longest wedding weekend ever. We hope you like it. Next stop, Farhampton...”Catch that part about "the longest wedding weekend ever"? Yep, How I Met Your Mother's final season will take place entirely over the course of Barney and Robin's wedding weekend. That means that while there could be some flashbacks and flashforwards (and it would be odd to not have any, given the show has used both in the past a ton), in terms of the central storyline, while we have met the Mother, Ted still might not until far into the season; perhaps even the series finale. But Bays' comments also make it clear we'll be seeing Milioti throughout Season 9, so the question is whether she's interacting with the other main characters at the wedding or other characters entirely - or whether they will allow flashforwards to show Ted and the Mother together in any notable way.What do you think of How I Met Your Mother going pseudo-real time for Season 9? Is it a fun twist or would you rather have had Robin and Barney's wedding occur in the premiere, so Ted could simply meet the Mother, and the rest of the season charted the beginning of their relationship in the months following that? TVLine spoke to CBS president Nina Tassler and asked her about the plan for HIMYM: Season 9. She seemed to confirm that Ted himself won't be meeting the Mother for quite awhile in Season 9. Tassler said that we'll see, during the wedding weekend shown over the course of the season, “how each character, before Ted, meets the mother. So, they each meet her independently before he does.”