With How I Met Your Mother about to enter its eighth season come fall, there is a ton of speculation about whether or not it will be the show’s last. The ratings are solid enough to the point where CBS is cool with giving the comedy another year on the air, but the cast is getting a tad too big for its britches leading some to believe that negotiations for another season could get really rough. That is why today it is making headlines that talks with the actors to come back have already started.
Variety is reporting that these are very preliminary talks, but the broadcaster definitely will need to get ahead of this in order for How I Met Your Mother to not turn into an Office-like scenario where things were not dealt with until right before upfronts. In a way, this is refreshing and should allow the writing staff to scribe a suitable final season should things point to a spring 2013 conclusion. Regardless of whether or not a ninth season is greenlit, that does not change the fact the show is ending very soon. The only question seems to be whether the series finale will come in 2013 or 2014. A tenth season seems highly unlikely.
As previously alluded to, the series’ stars are kind of a big deal now. Neil Patrick Harris has the Smurfs franchise, Jason Segel has kept busy writing comedies, and now Cobie Smulders is all about The Avengers with her role as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill. Word is that Smulders will be reprising her role in Iron Man 3 making her a permanent fixture of the Marvel Universe with cross-over potential. That said, I am not sure this cast is willing to throw away sitcom money just yet. Sure things may be looking up for all corners, but to run off and do ‘whatever’ might not be the best move on an individual level for all parties especially in an environment that is increasingly seeing movie stars migrate to the small screen.
Stay tuned for updates as negotiations go down.