Now you know, HIMYM fans. After eight seasons and 184 episodes, you finally know. You don’t know much yet — like how Ted Mosby actually met his children’s mother, or anything about her, but you know who she is. If you were hoping for someone big and famous, you might be nursing a sting of disappointment. (“The whole idea is that Ted’s never seen this woman before, so it better feel that way to the audience,†series co-creator Craig Thomas tells EW.) But if you were hoping for someone lovely, you’ve got reason to be thrilled. Watch the spoilery reveal after the jump.
That’s her, Cristin Milioti, as introduced by the Shins’s “Simple Song.†She was nominated for a Tony for Broadway’s Once. Milioti appeared on an episode of 30 Rock, when she told Liz Lemon she’s a very sexy baby. You may have also seen her on Nurse Jackie, in Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk with Me, and on The Sopranos as Johnny Sack’s daughter, Catherine Sacrimoni. We can now assume that when Craig Thomas promised the final season would feature a new device and said “you’re never going to mistake a season nine episode from one of the previous eight,†he meant the mother will be a major character.