The final slap. The final high five. How I Met Your Mother season 9 is almost upon us, and CBS released the first trailer to build anticipation.

As the September 23 How I Met Your Mother final season premiere date draws closer, more and more information about the show is being released. From BuzzFeed’s in-depth article about Cristin Milioti and her portrayal of one of the most buzzed about characters in recent years, the Mother, to this trailer released by CBS that gives us tantalizingly small glimpses of the next season.

Article Continues Below

The trailer features the five main cast members holding golden umbrellas – an object that has always been closely related to the Mother’s identity since Ted took that yellow umbrella in the fateful season 3’s episode, “No Tomorrow.” We also see small bits of dialogue, like Marshall declaring he’s going to ruin this wedding, Barney telling Ted “Robin’s marrying me, not you,” seems harsh, but given Ted’s actions last season, seems like a valid declaration.

One particular moment from the video to get excited about: another slap is coming. We’d all hoped and prayed for this day, and given the show’s tendency for fantastic continuity and call backs, a final slap seemed all but inevitable. According to the Slap Bet website, http://www.theslapbetcountdown.com/, another slap will be given in 77 days – November 19, 2013. Could it be – another Slapsgiving episode? Despite this final season’s deviation from the traditional timeline, it wouldn’t be surprising for the producers to do a flashback – or flashforward – to give viewers one last Thanksgiving with the gang.

The entire season will be told within the weekend of Robin and Barney’s wedding, giving viewers much speculation about how the show will do justice to the previous eight seasons of introducing the mother. Will we see Ted fall in love with the Mother over the weekend? Given that older-Ted is telling this story, we wouldn’t be surprised if an event that happens that weekend triggers a story that happens after that weekend, but still in the past – does that make sense? The narrator has had the gift of hindsight throughout this series, so he knows what happens after the wedding, even if we don’t.

See more from our coverage of ‘How I Met Your Mother’s’ final season here.