Alyson Hannigan portrayed Lily Aldrin for all nine seasons of How I Met Your MotherBut the character briefly disappeared in season 4 of the sitcom. Lily served as a primary character in the series, with the main character Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) while in college. It is there that she also befriends her future husband, Marshall Ericksen (Jason Segel), with whom she starts a family during the events of the show. But, the lily How I Met Your Mother Absence during season 4 was perceived as feeling deliberate by many fans - and it was.
In season 4, the recently married Lily and Marshall realized that they had opposing views on starting and raising a family. Ironically, by this time, Hannigan had already expanded her own family. Lily disappeared into How I Met Your Mother Season 4, starting in the season's 20th episode, "Mobius Designs." She did not return until episode 23, "As Fast as She Can." While many fans wondered why Lily was not in some episodes of How I Met Your Mother Season 4, there is a very simple explanation - maternity leave.
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Lily disappeared because of Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy
The How I Met Your Mother star took a maternity leave break
After the birth of her daughter in 2009, Alyson Hannigan had to take maternity leave and leave How I Met Your Mother for a while. This led to her character missing several episodes before finally returning for the final two episodes of season 4. Instead simply removing Lily from HIMYM Season 4 storyline, the show provided a clever explanation by expanding on a cold open joke.
The season 4 HIMYM Episode "Mosbius Designs," Barney kickstarted a major lily How I Met Your Mother moment when he tells her a dirty joke despite Ted and Marshall's warning that the content is "Funny guy."Future Ted claimed it was the dirtiest joke he ever heard, so he never really told his kids and, therefore, the audience what it was.
Barney's joke was so offensive that, when he heard it, Lily immediately walked away and avoided the group for the next month. This, of course, was an added line to cleverly explain the character's disappearance in the series. Before that, the sitcom had hilarious ways of covering up Hannigan's pregnancy throughout the 4th season.
When Lily returned a few episodes later, she claimed that she had time to think about the dirty joke and realized that it was actually funny. That was until Barney said something else offensive, forcing her to leave again - although she didn't disappear for several episodes this time.
Alyson Hannigan didn't take a HIMYM break during her second pregnancy
The show used the opportunity to introduce Marshall and Lily's first child
Alyson Hannigan was pregnant twice while part of the How I Met Your Mother cast, although the show only had to remove Lily for a few episodes during season 4. The actress did not take an extended leave when she became pregnant for the second time in 2012 during How I Met Your Mother Season 7. Instead, Hannigan's second pregnancy was written in HIMYM To pave the way for the birth of Marvin Waitforit Eriksen, the first child of Lily and Marshall.
This approach was much more natural and wasn't as jarring to the viewers who noticed Lily's absence in season 4. What's more, the introduction of Marvin Jr. HIMYM Allowed the show to progress significantly, with Lily and Marshall's struggles during parenthood make for some of the best episodes of the show's recent seasons.
Did How I Met Your Mother struggle without Lily?
Lily's absence was noticed by many viewers
While How I Met Your Mother Didn't struggle with Lily's absence in season 4, it was noticed by many viewers. like a sitcom, HIMYM is underpinned by the five main characters, and removing one of them from the equation leads to something of a disruption in the balance. however, The way the show-runners covered for Alyson Hannigan not being present led to an incredibly funny running gag with Barney's joke.
Plus, the episodes Lily wasn't present in season 4 were nowhere near as controversial as the time in season 2 when she left Marshall and traveled to San Francisco to study art. To this day there are many How I Met Your Mother Fans considered this a backward move for the character, and one that dampened the group's dynamic since Lily and Marshall represented a well-functioning, non-toxic couple that the show needed to counter characters like womanizer Barney Stinson or serial dater/hope. . Romantic Ted.
Alyson Hannigan isn't the only HIMYM cast member to start a family during season 4
Cobie Smulders was also pregnant during her How I Met Your Mother run
While Lily is not in HIMYM Much during season 4 because of Hannigan's pregnancy, she wasn't the only one on How I Met Your Mother To fall pregnant. actually, Cobie Smulders (Robin) is also pregnant during the series, and at the same time Like Hannigan to boot. It's not uncommon for pregnant actresses to portray non-pregnant characters, especially on long-running sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother.
Filmmakers use common tactics to hide pregnancies, such as baggy clothes and extra large handbags to place in front of their bellies. The second time Hannigan was pregnant, the creators did not have to worry, because her character had a baby inside How I Met Your Mother Anyway.
Both Robin and Lily had major pregnancy storylines on HIMYM
The characters have widely different experiences
Given the title of the show, it's a little surprising that How I Met Your Mother Featured a pregnancy storyline or two. It was guaranteed from the beginning that children would be part of the story of the sitcom sooner or later, especially since each episode is narrated by Ted telling the stories of his younger self's adventures to his two children. However, the titular mother's pregnancy, surprisingly, isn't a key story arc until more or less the end of the show. The main pregnancy stories in HIMYM are Lily and Robin, although their experiences with conceiving children could not be more different.
After a long time trying, Lily eventually fell pregnant with Marshall's child, and gave birth to Marvin Jr., the first baby in HIMYM. The prolonged arc of Marshall and Lily trying to conceive had its fair share of emotional moments, with both becoming worried at various points that they might not be able to have children at all. Robin's experience with children, however, was much more emotional.
in How I Met Your Mother Season 7, Episode 12, "Symphony of Illumination", Robin learns that she cannot have children. Even though she's never been the most comfortable with kids, and has always claimed to want to put her career before having a family, she finds the news absolutely devastating. This episode handles the theme extremely well as well. "Symphony of Illumination" opens with Robin, rather than Ted, narrating the episode and telling a story to her future children.
Robin begins the episode believing she is pregnant because her menstrual cycle is late. However, her doctor eventually informs her that she is actually unable to get pregnant, and will never have children. She spends the rest of the episode trying to find the right words to tell her friends what happened, and it's eventually revealed that the two children she spoke to in the opening are constructs of her imagination. It is one of the most hard-hitting episodes of how i met your mother And yet another moment the sitcom took a break from its laugh-out-loud funny to sensitively handle an issue that millions struggle with every single day.
Alyson Hannigan was one of many sitcom stars to hide a baby bump
Although Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy was hidden because Lily was not in HIMYM season 4 much, it is far from the only sitcom that has hidden an actor's pregnancy on screen.. This happened in Seinfeld Not once but twice, as the irreplaceable Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Elaine, was pregnant in season 3 and season 8 (via. These things). However, unlike Hannigan, Louis-Dreyfus is very present in most of the seasons. The production worked around Louis-Dreyfus' pregnancy by dressing the actor in oversized clothes and carrying large bags, but it still felt natural, as the clothes looked like things Elaine would wear.
Julie Bowen, who played Claire Dunphy in Modern familyWas pregnant with twins in the first episode. When she's on screen, she's sitting behind cereal boxes or carrying loads of laundry. When Claire gives the direct-to-camera interviews on the couch that the show is known for, she holds a pillow. If it was any other show, studio executives wouldn't have hired her because of being pregnant. Bowen explained:
"I was pregnant with twins, and I kept thinking that they weren't going to hire me. They kept bringing me in over and over and sort of staring at my humungous belly, and I thought, 'I'm never going to get this job.'" (by People).
Courtney Cox, who famously plays Monica Gellar in FriendsWas pregnant in the last season (by Inside). Ironically, this couldn't be written into the show because it was already established that Monica and Chandler couldn't conceive. However, the production worked around him similarly to both Modern family And Seinfeld Hiding their litters pregnant. When Monica is standing in Friends Season 10, she is often holding her skirt in front of her stomach, or some other part of the set is obscuring the view. Hannigan hiding her pregnancy when playing Lily in How I Met Your Mother In season 4 is one of many cases in the industry.