How I Met Your MotherCo-Creator on How His Son's Rare Genetic Disorder Influenced the Direction of the Show (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Josh Radnor and Cobie Smulders in ‘How I Met Your Mother’ in 2013.Photo:Carin Baer/Fox

Carin Baer/Fox

More than a decade afterHow I Met Your Motherended, co-creatorCraig Thomasis opening up about how the birth of his son Elliot influenced the show’s polarizing series finale.

As Thomas told PEOPLEat a Saturday, Jan. 11, benefit concert for the Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom, Elliot’s rare genetic disorder made him feel like he was “living a drama and writing a comedy.”

“Life doesn’t always go the way you think it’s going to go,” Thomas explained. “And I think the show that was already kind of emotional was — it became more so,” he added of Elliot’s birth early in the show’s run.

Josh Radnor and Cristin Milioti in the 2014 series finale of ‘How I Met Your Mother’.CBS / courtesy Everett Collection

CBS / courtesy Everett Collection

That twist ending caused considerable backlash from both critics and fans. But as PEOPLE’s Henry Goldblatt wrote in his2014 review of the finale, “HIMYM, at its core, was about the unpredictability of love.”

“Love … is difficult; it never comes when and where you expect it,” Goldblatt wrote. “MaybeHIMYMwas the love story of Ted and Tracy; maybe it was the love story of Ted and Robin. Or maybe it was the love story of a man who was lucky enough to find two loves of his life.”

‘How I Met Your Mother’ co-creator Craig Thomas in 2016.Brent N. Clarke/FilmMagic

Brent N. Clarke/FilmMagic

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At the Jan. 11 benefit, Thomas, who wrote the series finale with co-creator Carter Bays, echoed that take.

source: people.com