The co-creator of How I Met Your Mother has confirmed a fan theory about a relative of the show’s character, Lily.

Craig Thomas revealed that a theory posed on Reddit – in which it’s thought that Lily’s repeatedly referenced famous relative is astronaut Buzz Aldrin – is true.

“Carter [Bays – co-creator] and I were lucky enough to write/shoot a few sketches with Buzz Aldrin when we wrote for Late Show with David Letterman… so we named Lily “Aldrin” in his honour!


“Then we said – wait, maybe we can imply she is related to him! And maybe we can book him for an ep!”

So yes, Carter and I were lucky enough to write/shoot a few sketches with Buzz Aldrin when we wrote for Late Show with David Letterman…so we named Lily "Aldrin" in his honor! Then we said — wait, maybe we can imply she is related to him! And maybe we can book him for an ep! — Craig Thomas (@HimymCraig) February 21, 2020

The Reddit theory states that Aldrin was the father of Lily’s mother. This is based off a number of ideas, including the fact that the pair share surnames and that Lily’s maternal grandfather was one of the few family members of hers that didn’t appear on the show.

There are times, however, where Lily (played by Alyson Hannigan) brings her grandmother Lois into the picture. Aldrin was married to Lois Driggs Cannon from 1988 to 2012, which would make Lois Lily’s step-grandmother. We can presume this because Aldrin had a daughter with his first wife, Joan Ann Archer, whom he named Janice – the same name as Lily’s mother in the show.

Additionally, as The Independent points out, at one point in the series Lois says that her husband served in the Korean War. Aldrin was a fighter pilot in the war before he worked for NASA.


Bays and Thomas regularly highlighted that Lily’s mother was a staunch feminist, making it all the more likely that she would take her mother’s surname over her father’s. To back this theory up, Lily doesn’t take Marshall’s surname when they marry.

How I Met Your Mother ran for nine seasons from 2005-2014.