‘How I Met Your Mother’ Fans Want Us to Remember That Cristin Milioti’s Character Dies This Year
How I Met Your Mother fans want everyone to remember that 2024 is the year Cristin Milioti's character, Tracy, died.
After this year marked the 10-year anniversary since the show's series premiere aired, some viewers used the opportunity to remind Us of another milestone moment.
"10 years since the finale and this is also the same year that Tracy dies in the HIMYM timeline. IF YOU EVEN CARE!" one social media user wrote via X on Monday, July 1. This inspired other fans to share their reactions to the news.
"I feel like i've been hit by a truck thank you for reminding me," read one response, while another fan added, "I still can’t believe they killed off arguably the best character of the show. What a terrible ending."
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The sitcom, which aired on CBS from 2005 to 2014, followed Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and his group of friends in New York City as they attempted to find happiness in their personal and professional lives. How I Met Your Mother also starred Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan and Milioti. The voiceover for Future Ted was done by Bob Saget.
The divisive series finale revealed that Tracy died from an undisclosed illness in 2024, six years before Ted tells their children the story of how he met her. Ted recalled how Tracy "became sick," and his children say that she has been "gone" for six years — but no actual details about the character's death were mentioned.
Creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas subsequently faced backlash for some of the narrative choices made in the series finale. Fans were specifically not thrilled with how Tracy was killed off to pave the way for Ted to reconcile with ex Robin (Smulders), who was married to Barney (Harris).
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"If you didn't like the finale, I guess that happens," Bays wrote via X in 2014. "We tried something and it didn't connect with you. I hope we're still friends."
Thomas also showed appreciation for the HIMYM fandom despite their reaction.
“Thank you all. I mean it: Every possible reaction to the last 44 minutes ... thank you all ... The fact that we have been a TV sitcom that has received this much passion from fans, for 9 years (not just tonight) — thank you," the executive producer posted at the time. "We wrote a comedy with dramatic elements till the very end. Thanks for taking that ride with us. We did a finale about life’s twists and turns and that is not always what happens … but THANKS! Seriously — no matter what you thought of tonight, THANK YOU ... you were with us. We love you. Thanks for this ride.”
Bays and Thomas ultimately did not return for the show's spinoff How I Met Your Father in 2022. Bays, however, did receive an executive producer credit for the Hulu show.
How I Met Your Father, which was released in January 2022, explored Sophie (Hilary Duff) and her friends' lives in Manhattan. In this gender-swap version of the story, Future Sophie (Kim Cattrall) recounted to her son the events that led to her meeting his father.
The spinoff also starred Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley and Tien Tran. It was canceled in July 2023 before viewers found out who Sophie had a child with in the future.
