How I Met Your Mother ran on CBS for nine seasons, from 2005 to 2014. At its best, it was a marvel of the sitcom form, assembling a top-flight cast and doing amazing things with continuity, flashbacks, flash forwards and unreliable narration. At its worst, especially in its later seasons, the series frequently repeated itself, cycled romantic couplings too many times, and built towards an ending that just about everybody hated.
The series’ reputation has pretty much held at that point in the two and a half years since it went off the air, as its cast members continue to take on high-profile roles, although a planned spinoff, How I Met Your Dad, was not picked up by CBS. And now, there are rumblings about more How I Met Your Mother.
Jason Segel, a cast member for the entire run of How I Met Your Mother, said at the Austin Film Festival this week that he is “completely on board” with a How I Met Your Mother reunion, should one occur, as reported by THR. He added, “I’d be around for whatever those guys wanted to do. It changed my life… I would leave that to the writers. One of the great things about my relationship to that show is I never got involved in the writing, I just tried to execute what these brilliant writers did, so I would leave that to them, as usual.”
Segel’s comments came while he was introducing a screening of the 2011 The Muppets film, which he co-wrote and co-starred in. There is no indication that any actual reunion of How I Met Your Mother is in any way being pursued at present or that any of the other cast members are on board.
There are a couple of good reasons to oppose the idea of a HIMYM reunion: The actual series ran for nine years, probably two or three more seasons than it should have, it was clear by the end that the writers were just about out of original ideas. In addition, the series’ continuity didn’t has any glaring gaps that haven’t been explored yet. How I Met Your Mother already showed us decades of the characters’ lives in flash forward, and also told plenty of stories in flashback.
Now, should the reunion consist of the actors getting together for a primetime special and talking about the show for awhile, it’s likely many fans would be interested in hearing those insights. However, it’s hard to imagine a HIMYM movie or limited series making any sense.
We’ll keep you updated on How I Met Your Mother as more information becomes available.
