How I Met Your Mother | Official 'Alternate Ending'

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Ted Mosby's wife Tracy McConnell, the titular "Mother," doesn't pass away from a terminal illness in this more upbeat version that plays on the happenstance of previous seasons.
Even the cold manner in which the show reveals Tracy's death – a mere sentence after nine seasons of building up the relationship – was criticized by fans. That's not an issue here. In this ending, the widowed Ted Mosby doesn't wind up with the now-divorced Robin Scherbatsky; partly because Ted isn't widowed, partly because Robin stays married to Neil Patrick Harris's Barney Stinson. In short, no new footage but less divorce, less death, and more closure from the narration provided by Bob Saget.

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Background Score: 'And There She Was' by The Solids

TM & © Bays & Thomas Productions | 20th Century Fox Television

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[prattlestar]

While this ending will likely satisfy HIMYM fans that complained about the original ending, it also opens the door for criticism from people wondering how this alternate end was left on the cutting room floor. "16 days ago today we were in the HIMYM edit room, trying to decide between two very different endings, " Bays explained of his decision back in April. "We only shot one script, but through edit room magic we had two possible outcomes for the series. We chose the ending we chose and we stand by it. But we loved the other version too."

[MsLivinglegend]

Tracey and Ted had more chemistry in like 5 scenes than robin and Ted in 9 seasons imo.

[dannyvangiersbergen]

This ending sparked feelings within me that the “official” one never did.

[fiprosha]

I think How I Met Your Mother has to be the best example of "planning an ending in advance" and "simultaneously drawing the show out for several more seasons because it's popular" and it not working out in combination.

The original ending would have fitted really well if it happened after the first few seasons. The mother dying made sense and Ted and Robin not working out because they wanted different things in life and then getting back together after all was kinda obvious too.

But then the series went on and on and the characters just kept changing so much. They kept developing, just to then be forced into an ending that was created like a decade earlier and that completely disregarded all that character development they went through.

Robin and Barney were so perfect for each other. And Ted having that awkward "letting go of Robin" epiphany just to then go back to Robin after all was just stupid.

Sometimes you just gotta admit to yourself that the stuff you've been planning for 10 years doesn't fit anymore and let go.

[hermannmeier]

83 % of all HIMYM fans consider this the real ending. True story.

[jamaco]

This is the proper ending. Only here did i realize why it was important for ted to tell the story of how he met robin on the pilot episode, because if he hadn't met robin there wouldn't have been any wedding to meet Tracey in.

[bizmen]

I now accept this as the official ending. It was just beautiful.

[dragond]

This is the best example of why producers shouldn’t always go for plot twists. They made a mistake by choosing the other ending because they wanted that shocking plot twist about the mother being dead and ruined a great sitcom by it.

[mitsubishi]

I just finished the series literally 5 minutes ago and thank god this exists

[tealmacfarlane]

Literally all I ever wanted was to hear Bob Saget to say "And kids, that's how I met your mother" and I'm glad it exists even if it's not the official ending.

[hinduismwithpremananddasbhagat]

If this HAD been the ending, I would have finished the show in tears. Instead I finished it going "What the I felt like the writers gave us the finger. Or, the old cliche of it was all a dream ending. I even said to my girlfriend - it needs to end with him talking to her under the umbrella, perfect ending.

[andrewpaddock]

This should have bene the ending, but what it shows more than anything is how wonderful an actress Cristin Milioti is! She had more chemistry with Ted in one short scene than he ever had with Robin in nine seasons. Such an underrated actress, and she was the perfect choice for the Mother.

[katvassos]

This ending is 100% better. Although I didn’t hate that they killed Tracey off, I hated that Barney and Robin broke up just so Ted and Robin can have their “happily ever after”.

[yahyarajaee]

The original ending works to a degree because it was hinted at so many times throughout the show. The problem was that they made such a big deal of Barney and Robin getting married that when they got divorced, the audience felt cheated. The 2 last seasons basically revolves around Barney getting his life together and they reverted all of that back to square 1 in only 2 episodes! Of course people would freak out!

[konstantinpopov]

I remember first watching HIMYM and throughout the entire series I got a little exhausted waiting for mother to appear.
however, when I saw Tracy for the first time I got completely smashed by how perfect she is. I just wish there were more of them, more scenes, more moments with their kids - so we could have seen how they built their family. the very idea itself of making whole season around one wedding is great, but it’s like at some point they’ve forgotten the plots name. it’s the mother who should have been the main character in the last season. by the time show had ended we already got all the information about main five people we needed. we’d seen all grow ups and character building. we needed Tracy to become the main character. it’s just my opinion, let it pass by

[mollsisbored]

This is my first time seeing the “true ending” and I’m tearing up. Tracy deserved better

[rahulrai]

"Kids i must have heard your mom's rendition of La Vie En Rose a million times over the years. Every night when she tucked you in for instance, but that performance, the first night i ever heard her sing, That one will always be my favourite"

[awadeuwu]

This is totally the ending the show deserved.
I mean, Bob Saget finally pronouncing the show’s name. Ted finally meeting the love of his life. Even the music at the end makes total sense.
Because you cannot just destroy every characters’ growth in the last episodes… You cannot just throw that sad ending and then let the happy music and the credits roll.
I understand if they wanted to make the final more cruel and “real”, if you want, but it’s just too rushy.
Even if it was predictable or simple, this show deserved this ending, a happy ending, because it was just that, a show. A show about love and finding that special person.
There was no need to make things this way just to be different.
For me, that’s how this show really ended.

[skyslasher]

I wish the alternate ending was more widely available besides the DVD so that more people can experience the show this way this ending is so much better.

[kaanmuhammedgunes]

The biggest problem is: When you re-watch the show you can clearly see that mother was gonna die, it was planted here and there. That maked it so that when you watched it again there were scenes that really make you understand the scene more. But with Barney and Robin's relationship, they made them perfect for each other, they developed their characters. Both Barney and Robin sacrificed a lot just to be with each other, it took years for them to see each other in the truest sense and they realized they were the ones for each other. That's why when people say "Ending is realistic" don't make sense. It's not realistic at all, it destroys the believability of the show because the whole show said something else just to say something else in the last minute. Whole show showed us Barney grew up, he found love again, he knew Robin was the one and slowly got his heart fixed, He endured a lot for her, she actually was through whole show the only woman Barney truly fell in love with and they made that clear. Robin, loved Barney deep down, although she was suspicious at first slowly but surely realized how much he loved her, she saw him as someone he never let anyone else see: Someone vulnerable. And in the end they were like "Aight, we need a divorce because of my blog". There's theories that make much sense than this. They could've simply showed us Barney wanted kids, Robin didn't and they broke up over that. At least it would be realistic that way but no they broke up for a dumb reason and gave up their whole character arc just because.