Whether or not Robin will end up with Barney on How I Met Your Mother is still the big question, but Carter Bays does give a hint about what we can expect in season 8.

Executive producer Bays tells TV Line that in the beginning of season 8,

There will be a new romance for [Robin]. We already have some ideas for that.

We don’t know whether to consider this a hint as to the identity of Barney’s bride, which will be revealed in the finale (our official guess is still that there’ll be a bride, but no wedding!).

Bays also hints at the season 7 finale, saying that, “We pay off something we set up in the episode “Disaster Averted.” Slap bet, anyone?

Speaking to EW, Bays goes into the reasons why Barney is moving so fast with Quinn:

I think Barney is in love. At a certain age, you stop worrying about the pacing so much and you sort of realize you’re only on this planet a short time so you might as well be with the person you care about the most. And I think that’s Quinn right now for Barney.

He also reveals that showing Ted with his daughter wasn’t a part of the original plan for the season:

We had a week of treading water, to be honest. We have the arc of the season going, but this was one week where there wasn’t one, specific big event happening. We always get nervous about those kinds of episodes because you want to know that the story is moving forward.

What did you think about that big twist in “Trilogy Time”?