It’s the September 15-21 issue, with Brooke Shields, Kate Walsh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Emily Deschanel on the cover. There isn’t much in the article that’s new – mainly another horrible attempts to namesmush Barney/Robin, some quotes from Carter Bays and Josh Radnor, and a Marshall/Lily tidbit.
In an impulsive season-finale marriage proposal to dermatologist and sassy single mom Stella (Sarah Chalke), Ted (Josh Radnor) offered her a plush aracade toy instead of a diamond ring – and fans have been waiting for her answer all summer. “We shot three different responses,” says cocreator Carter Bays, who was covering his bases in case Chalke couldn’t return due to her role as Dr. Reid on Scrubs. (Odds are Stella accepts: Chalke is signed on for multiple Mother episodes.)
The season opener finds the couple right where we left them – in the race-car ride at Kiddie Funland where Ted popped the question. It came after the kind of day that makes you think now-or-never: a near-death experience in a taxi crash was followed by a tearful reconciliation with best bud Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), who had violated “the bro code” by hooking up with Ted’s ex Robin (Cobie Smulders).
“We’re gonna find out stuff about Stella,” Bays teases. “The fact that Ted doesn’t know her very well is going to be a bigger deal than he thinks.” In the premiere, the duo have a confrontation over Star Wars. “Ted has to deal with the question: Can I marry someone who doesn’t like Star Wars?”
If “Tedla” gets lost in space – what about “Bobin”? Barney’s loving gaze toward an oblivious Robin was another season-ending shocker. So after learning Stella’s answer in the premiere, the story jumps ahead in time, bypassing summer to find Manhattan’s most legendary bachelor dealing with his feelings for Robin. “It’s something he grapples with because he likes his life the way it is,” notes Bays.
But Robin is too focused on work to notice. “She’s going to try and kick it up a notch and actually have a real career in journalism, to mixed results,” Bays says.
The only couple on solid ground – despite their lopsided apartment – are marrieds Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan), who will chart the next step in their relationship. Yes…kids.
But all of this is just background noise for die-hard HIMYM fans who only care about one thing: Is Stella the mother? “I don’t know,” Radnor says. “The pleasure of the show is not centered on the mystery. It’s on watching these people relate and stumble into adulthood.” One stuffed orange kangaroo at a time. -Kate Hahn