Entertainment
How I Met Your Mother creator Carter Bays keen for a Friends-style cast reunion show-Rachael O'Connor-Entertainment – Metro
The gang could be getting back together!
Fans of How I Met Your Mother could be treated to a reunion show in the future, with co-creator Carter Bays admitting he’d ‘love it’ (Picture: Getty Images)
How I Met Your Mother co-creator Carter Bays would be up for a reunion show gathering all the old cast members together.
The writer, who has just released his debut novel Mutual Friend, launched the acclaimed sitcom in 2005 with co-creator Craig Thomas, which later led to spin-off How I Met Your Father with Hilary Duff.
After nine seasons of laugh-out-loud moments and jaw-dropping cameos, HIMYM came to an end in 2014 but is still incredibly popular, with a huge online fanbase and more meme groups than you could count.
There are plenty of people out there who would love to see Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Jason Segel, Josh Radnor and Alyson Hannigan sat back at their old booth of McClaren’s one last time – and Carter is one of them.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Carter pondered the future of the show and if there could be any surprises, saying ‘in theory’ he would ‘love a reunion, because I would love to see all the people involved again.’
‘I loved the cast, the writers… the thing I miss most about it isn’t the show so much as the people that came together to make it.’
He added that a reunion similar to the Friends special which aired last summer ‘would be kind of cool,’ admitting he isn’t sure about writing any new scripted episodes.
It’s unlikely fans will get a new episode of How I Met Your Mother, but a reunion show could be on the cards in the future (Picture: CBS)
‘It’s been so many years,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if I could write for Barney anymore, I don’t know if I could write for Marshall.
‘I kind of forget how those characters work. When you do it every day you have it intrinsically.’
Years after the series ended, the actors who brought Ted, Barney, Robin, Marshal and Lily to life are still in big demand, with Neil recently being revealed to be starring in the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who.
Carter has been keeping up with his former leading cast’s careers since How I Met Your Mother came to an end, and revealed his children are huge fans – particularly of NPH.
‘My kids are 11, 9 and 7, the oldest is just getting to maybe being close to watching How I Met Your Mother. I’m sort of nervous about it, there’s stuff in it that’s a little more grown up. But so many members of our cast have done this great material for kids.
Each of the cast have gone on to star in a multitude of high-profile film and TV franchises (Picture: Getty Images)
‘They got to know Neil through A Series of Unfortunate Events, they love that show and they’re big NPH fans,’ he revealed.
Jason had a leading role in the Muppets movie, Josh voices Durpleton in unicorn cartoon Centaurworld which the children are ‘obsessed with’, while Alyson starred in a Disney film and Cobie has a recurring role in the Marvel franchise.
The cast have all moved on – but to this day some fans find it difficult to get over the famously controversial ending to the sitcom.
Carter admitted he tries to say ‘as little about the ending as possible’ in order to ‘leave it to people’s imaginations.’
‘We did make two endings, there’s another one online that I think is really lovely, so we like to let people choose their own ending for that one.’
Carter likes to leave the controversial ending up to the viewers’ own imagination (Picture: 20th Century Fox)
Despite his huge love for the show, Carter says it was ‘easy’ to accept when it was time to end it.
‘I had ticked off all the boxes of various dreams I had. Getting to work with Kyle MacLachlan, Chris Elliot, Bob Odenkirk, there’s such a long list of wonderful cameos on the show.
‘I went through, one by one, all my great heroes and got to work with them and I’m so grateful for that experience.’
‘It could have gone on for another nine years, purely for how much fun it was,’ he added.
‘But by the end we had ticked all the boxes – there was nothing left to do but finally meet the mother.’
The show aired for a total of 208 episodes (Picture: CBS )
Speaking of cameos, Carter also reflected on Britney Spears’ time on the show, and praised her for ‘bringing a ton of eyes’ to the series when it wasn’t exactly ‘exploding’ in the ratings.
‘She came in and she really shone in those scenes and we brought her back for another episode,’ he recalled.
‘It was wonderful,’ Carter said. ‘It brought a lot of eyes to the show.’
While he may not be writing another How I Met Your Mother episode in the future, Carter has turned his sights to fiction, having recently released his debut novel.
Carter got to live the dream by inviting some of his heroes to appear on the show (Picture: CBS )
The series was created by Carter and writing partner Craig Thomas (PIcture: CBS via Getty Images)
Like his acclaimed sitcom, Mutual Friend is set in New York City and revolves around a vast ensemble of unique characters trying to find their way in the world, navigating the dating scene along the way.
The unique, funny and at times sad novel explores our reliance on technology,with Carter admitting he had to question his own assumptions that technology is ‘inherently bad.’
‘We have to acknowledge the reality that so much of our lives take place in our screens: we buy our groceries, we fall in love.
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‘I wanted to write something that acknowledges and explores it, and lets people ask questions themselves and think about life a little differently.’
Mutual Friend is out now.
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