We’re halfway through How I Met Your Mother‘s eighth season, but there’s no official word yet on a season 9 renewal. See what the showrunners have to say about the situation.
Following the interview roundup we posted yesterday in which the How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas discussed the winter finale episode “The Final Page” and previewed the second half of season 8, TV Line has spoken to Bays about the pineapple in the room: whether this is in fact the show’s final season.
The executive producer reveals that they are currently right in the middle of negotiations for a ninth season with CBS. “If you had any idea the kind of white-knuckled, nail-biting going on… It’s very exciting. But we’re all very confident it will work out,” he divulges.
Right now, we’re probably looking at an announcement in January 2013, at the Television Critics’ Association press tour. The showrunners are going ahead and playing this season as though it’s the series’ last, but of course we have to assume that they’ve got a plan should they get a renewal.
Bays also shares his opinion that he’d prefer not to get a shortened ninth season to wrap up the show (similarly to what Fox did with Fringe). “I would rather not,” he says. “Our dream would be to do another 24-episode season.”
He also talks a bit about the big Barney/Robin development, and justifies Robin’s decision to accept Barney’s proposal even though she initially felt betrayed by his manipulation, saying, “She loves Barney. She loves him. [The proposal was] a moment of realizing he’s going to be lacking in certain regards, and that’s just part of who Barney is.”
Now, the pair is headed for Farhampton and (presumably) marriage, but the road will not be “completely smooth,” Bays teases. They now have to deal with the fallout of what he calls the “rash” decision to get engaged, whereas Ted has “got some dating coming up.”
Are you hoping that the show will be renewed for season 9? Seeing as the writers seem to have a plan for another 24 episodes, where could the story go next year?
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