It looks like "How I Met Your Mother" fans will have to wait a little longer to find out the identity of the show's titular matriarch.
According to Deadline, "How I Met Your Mother" has been renewed and will return for a ninth season, after all five stars reportedly signed on for another year following weeks of contract negotiations.
CBS could not confirm the report.
The future of the series was in question after rumors surfaced that Jason Segel (arguably the show's most successful star thanks to his steady film career) was done with the show, while the other leads were open to continuing. Deadline reports that the actor "decided to bail and leave the cast hangung [sic]. But he just got turned around today at the last second.”
Per Deadline, since the contracts for the cast and creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays were set to expire at the end of the current season, along with the show's licensing deal with CBS, Thomas and Bays had reportedly asked the network for a decision on whether the show would be officially renewed, in order to give them time to craft an appropriate ending if Season 8 was to be their last.
Thomas and Bays have previously stated that "wrapping [the show] up in Season 8 would be amazing ... There’s a part of us as writers that [is] drawn to that. It’s exciting. We get to answer everything. Every episode of the season is so much more important because of that. [That's] something sort of thrilling and very nostalgic and sad to think about, but it’d be exciting to write."
In September, "How I Met Your Mother" star Josh Radnor told The Hollywood Reporter that "so many things have to drop into place for [a renewal] to happen. They really need to figure it out because the writers need to know. They're the pressing issue right now because they have to figure out if they're wrapping up the show at the end of Season 8 or Season nine. (We've) just very recently been approached about that and we really can't say either way right now."
At the Television Critics Association summer press tour in July, CBS president Nina Tassler told reporters, "Certainly [Thomas and Bays] have a very strategic wrap-up to the show [whenever it does end] ... They know we want the show to come back next year. We're not there in terms of resolving the season. We're in early conversations and we're pretty optimistic."
While nothing is final until CBS issues an official statement, "HIMYM" fans certainly have more cause for optimism than they did a few days ago.
For more on the reported renewal, head over to Deadline.
Would you tune in for a ninth season of "How I Met Your Mother"?
