How I Met Your Mother remains one of the most cherished sitcoms of its time, accumulating romance, comedy, and tragedy over the course of nine seasons. However, there’s a dark aspect to the CBS show’s popularity — its ending.
While a majority expressed displeasure with the conclusion of How I Met Your Mother, they nevertheless acknowledge that the journey was the best part, if not the destination. After all, the show might have been cut off altogether, not just the ending, ridding us of a couple of hundred episodes.
The infamous finish, where Ted Mosby’s eventual love interest — the mother of his children — passes away from an illness, was a full-fledged affair that stuck to the writers’ original vision. However, the How I Met Your Mother creative team was prepared with a strong backup should their entire concept not materialize and get crushed under ratings. That version retained Ted’s best love interest — Victoria — as the mother of his kids.
Actress Ashley Williams’ adorable portrayal of Victoria, a baker whom Ted — and fans — fell in love with halfway through the first season, was once considered the final ray of hope should CBS not renew How I Met Your Mother for subsequent seasons. When the character made an unforeseen return later in Season 7, co-creator Carter Bays told TVLine that the chemistry between Josh Radnor and Williams was “indefinable.”
Bays also revealed that he and co-creator Craig Thomas were in harmony, quoting, “Ted meeting Victoria — happened at the end of Episode 12 [first season]…It would have been Victoria, probably.” Bays’ perspective is all the more evident when taking into account that HIMYM remained in a bubble of uncertainty regarding its future till Season 4. Reuniting Ted and Victoria would have also worked out better than tying the lead with Robin, Stella, or a new face.
In Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother, Ted and Victoria meet at a wedding and fall in love at first sight. When she goes to Germany for studies, the couple gives long-distance relationships a shot until Ted cheats on her with Robin (Cobie Smulders). Fortunately, the two meet again six years later and rectify their past indiscretions. They sever ties in Season 8 after Victoria senses Ted’s inability to get over Robin.
Since How I Met Your Mother already offered an alternate ending where Ted and Tracy live happily ever after, for Victoria to end up as the Mother makes it a third variation. While in many ways, she was perfectly suited to Ted, that scenario would rob the viewers of the best as well as worst parts of a truly amazing series.
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