Neil Patrick Harris Says HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Will Likely End with Season Eight

The hit CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother, which stars Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders, is returning for an eighth and possibly last season beginning Monday, September 24th, at 8/7c.

The year is 2030. Ted Mosby is relaying the story of how he met his wife to his daughter and son. The story starts in the year 2005, when then twenty-seven year old architect Ted was spurred on to want to get married after lawyer Marshall Eriksen and kindergarten teacher Lily Aldrin, his best friends from their college days at Wesleyan, got engaged after nine years of dating each other. Ted's new quest in life was much to the dismay of his womanizing friend, Barney Stinson. But soon after Marshall and Lily's engagement, Ted believed that his life mate was going to be news reporter and aspiring news anchor Robin Scherbatsky, who, despite having had a romantic relationship with her after this time, ended up being who the kids know as their "Aunt" Robin. As Ted relays the story to his kids, the constants are that their Uncle Marshall, Aunt Lily, Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin are always in the picture and thus have something to do with how he got together with their mother.

Emmy Award-winning actor Neil Patrick Harris, who plays fan favorite womanizer Barney Stinson on the hit sitcom, has joined co-star Josh Radnor in stating that a ninth season is unlikely due to the cast's busy schedules:

"Our contracts end at [Season] 8, so it’s one of those, you know, if they wanna do 9, they’re welcome to, but we have a lot of other things [going on]. Cobie [Smulders] has got ‘The Avengers’ that just made a billion dollars, Jason [Segel] makes a ton of movies, I’m anxious to move East and Josh [Radnor] is directing and acting in movies as well. So, we all are anxious to move forward.

"I think the only way I think a season 9 or any longer would happen would be [if it were] financially right — that’s the reality of it. We love the show, we love doing it – eight years is a long time and we’re as happy a family as we’ve ever been."

How I Met Your Mother stars Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders. The series is narrated through flashbacks from the future, voiced by Bob Saget. Created and executive produced by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas; along with executive producers Pamela Fryman and Rob Greenberg. The show's season eight premiere is scheduled to air exclusively on CBS Monday, September 24th, at 8/7c.