Alyson Hannigan pitches ‘How I Met Your Mother’ spinoff for Jason Segel

Alyson Hannigan has an idea for bringing back How I Met Your Mother.

It would make Marshall, the good-natured character that Jason Segel played, the focus of the series, rather than Josh Radnor’s Ted. It sounds like not much would need to change, although it would no doubt be packed with more of Marshall’s wife Lily (Hannigan), with whom he was madly in love.

“It’s like, ‘No, no, no, no kids. That’s not how it happened,'” Hannigan told PEOPLE of her pitch. “And then it starts out with, ‘We were a lot older, first of all …’ and then we can just do the show again.”

She added, “Everybody tells the story differently.”

Hannigan and Segel starred on the CBS sitcom, which also costarred Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris, over nine seasons, from 2005 to 2014. The conceit was that Radnor was telling his children about how he ended up with their mom — Bob Saget voiced the older character — and it kept the audience guessing her identity until the end.

A spin-off, How I Met Your Father, with a cast including Hilary Duff, Christopher Lowell, and Francia Raisa aired for two seasons in 2022 and 2023. In that one, Kim Cattrall voiced Duff’s character, Sophie, in the future.

Hannigan’s costars Smulders and Harris, as well as her husband Alexis Denisof, made appearances on that show before it was canceled.

Hannigan told the magazine in her new interview that she hadn’t even watched.

“I just couldn’t,” Hannigan said. “It just made me sad because I’m like, oh, that’s the same set.”

In April, the actress who’s also known for her memorable role in the American Pie franchise, commemorated the 10th anniversary of the controversial HIMYM finale.

The CBS sitcom won 10 Emmys during its run.

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