Less than a week ago, CBS’ long-running comedy How I Met Your Mother closed its last chapter with a finale that was more bittersweet than poignant and more unsatisfying than satisfactory for many fans. Apparently, however, the finale we got during “Last Forever” went through several drafts before showrunner Carter Bays and some of the other important staff decided on the version we ended up seeing on March 31. If you weren’t impressed with the ultimate ending you may be in luck. According to Bays, the upcoming DVD release for the series will feature an alternate ending that was almost chosen for the series.
Bays’ announced the news via a flurry of Tweets on Friday. The first few illuminate the “two possible outcomes” the show was looking at before they whittled down to the final ending. As Bays notes, the ending we got was the preferred ending, so it’s hard to tell if an alternate ending might be a little more relaxing for fans or if it will be less interesting than the ending we got. Here’s what Bays has to say about it, though.
Bays then goes on to note that the alternate ending will be a part of the How I Met Your Mother Complete Series DVD. That’s good news for fans who have been waiting for a complete series set; however, since Bays doesn’t mention the Season 9 DVD set, those who have been faithfully purchasing each season may not even get the almost-ending. We’ll have to wait for a press release for both sets to confirm whether or not the alternate ending will be widely available, but the sets don’t come out until this fall, so it could be some time before we know for certain. On the bright side, this is what Bays is saying the set will look like…
We already know that parts of the finale were conceived eight years ago when showrunners Bays and Craig Thomas wanted to get the kids on film before they were too grown, etc. We also know that a planned Robin Sparkles cameo was scrapped before the show aired. There should be plenty of content that could be shoehorned into an alternate ending. Regardless, the real question is whether or not a different edit would have had a major impact on the direction of the characters as they flitted through a lot of later years during the finale. If the answer is yes, the alternate ending could make for a real zinger. If the answer is no, it could be a real waste of time. I’m down either way if that Robin Sparkles cameo is involved.
