Alyson Hannigan played Lily Aldrin for all nine seasons How I Met Your Motherhowever, the character disappeared briefly in the sitcom's 4th season. Lily served as a central figure in the series, meeting central character Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) while in college. It was there that she also befriended her future husband Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), whom she married during the events of the show. However, Lily How I Met Your Mother Its absence in season 4 was noted by many fans as feeling intentional – and it was.
In season 4, the recently married Lily and Marshall realize that they have opposite ideas about starting and raising a family. Ironically, by then Hannigan was already expanding his family. Lily disappeared inside How I Met Your Mother Season 4 begins with the 20th episode of the season, “Mobius Designs”. He did not return until episode 23 of “As Fast as He Can”. Many fans wondered why Lily didn't appear in several episodes How I Met Your Mother season 4, there is a very simple explanation – maternity leave.
Lily disappeared due to Alison Hannigan's pregnancy
The How I Met Your Mother star took maternity leave
After the birth of her daughter in 2009, Alyson Hannigan had to go on maternity leave and move away from home. How I Met Your Mother for a while. This led to her character missing several episodes before returning for the final two episodes of season 4. Instead of just removing it from Lily HIMYM The storyline of season 4, the show expanded with a cold open joke, gave a clever explanation.
Season 4 HIMYM In the episode “Mosbius Designs”, Barney turns on the elder Lily How I Met Your Mother The moment Ted and Marshall tell him a dirty joke despite his warning that the content is “.funny boy“The future Ted claimed it was the dirtiest joke he'd ever heard, so he never told his kids, and ultimately the audience, what it was.
Barney's joke was so offensive that Lily walked away and avoided the group for the next month. This was, of course, an added line to cleverly explain the character's disappearance in the series. Before that, the sitcom offered hilarious ways to cover up Hannigan's pregnancy throughout season 4.
When Lily returned a few episodes later, she claimed she had time to think about the dirty joke and realized it was actually funny. That is until Barney says something else offensive and makes him go away again – although he didn't disappear for a few episodes this time.
Alyson Hannigan Didn't Take a HIMYM Break During Her Second Pregnancy
The show took the opportunity to introduce Marshall and Lily's first child
Alyson Hannigan got pregnant twice while being part of it How I Met Your Mother cast, although the show only had to remove Lily for a few episodes in season 4. When the actress got pregnant for the second time in 2012, she did not take a long leave. How I Met Your Mother season 7. Instead, Hannigan's second pregnancy was written HIMYM Making way for the birth of Lily and Marshall's first child, Marvin Waitforit Eriksen.
This approach was more natural and less jarring to viewers who noted Lily's absence in season 4. Plus, an introduction by Marvin Jr HIMYM allowed the performance to progress significantly Lily and Marshall's parenting struggles make for some of the best episodes of the show's recent seasons.
How I Met Your Mother Lily-Free Fight?
Lily's absence was noticed by many viewers
while How I Met Your Mother He didn't struggle with Lily's absence in season 4, as many viewers noted. like a sitcom HIMYM supported by five central characters, and removing any one of them from the equation throws off the balance. However, The showrunners' coverage of Alison Hannigan's absence led to an incredibly funny running gag with Barney's joke.
Plus, Lily's absences in season 4 weren't as controversial as when she broke up with Marshall and went to San Francisco to study art in season 2. There are many so far How I Met Your Mother Fans saw this as a step backwards for the character, and one that weakened the group's dynamic, as Lily and Marshall represented a well-functioning, non-toxic couple that needed to balance out characters like the show's misogynist Barney Stinson or serial lover/desperate. romantic Ted.
Alyson Hannigan wasn't the only HIMYM cast member to get married during Season 4.
Cobie Smulders was also pregnant during the run of How I Met Your Mother
Unless Lily is inside HIMYM Because of Hannigan's pregnancy in season 4, she wasn't alone How I Met Your Mother get pregnant In fact, Cobie Smulders (Robin) was also pregnant during the series and at the same time like Hannigan to boot. It's not uncommon for pregnant actresses to play non-pregnant characters, especially in long-running sitcoms. How I Met Your Mother.
Filmmakers use common tactics to hide pregnancies, such as baggy clothes and extra large bags to place in front of their bellies. When Hannigan got pregnant the second time, the creators didn't have to worry because her character was having a baby. How I Met Your Mother anyway.
Robin and Lily were Great Pregnancy Storylines on HIMYM
The characters had very different experiences
Given the show's title, that's hardly surprising How I Met Your Mother provided a pregnancy story or two. It was guaranteed from the beginning that having children would be part of the sitcom's story sooner or later, especially since each episode was told by Ted telling stories of his younger self's adventures to his two children. However, the titular mother's pregnancy was surprisingly not a major story arc until more or less the end of the show. Top pregnancy stories HIMYM Lily and Robin were, though their experiences of getting pregnant couldn't have been more different.
After trying for a long time, Lily finally became pregnant with Marshall's child and gave birth to Marvin Jr. HIMYM. Marshall and Lily's long arc of trying to conceive had its fair share of emotional moments, with both at various points worrying that they wouldn't be able to have children at all. Robin's experience of having a child was more emotional.
In How I Met Your Mother In season 7, episode 12, “Symphony of Illumination”, Robin learns that she cannot have children. Although she has never been the most comfortable person around children and has always maintained that she wanted to build her career before having a family, she finds the news absolutely devastating. The episode also handles the theme very well. “Symphony of Lighting” opens with Robin rather than Ted narrating the episode and telling the story to his future children.
Robin begins the episode believing she is pregnant because her period is late. However, her doctor eventually tells her that she cannot get pregnant and will never have children. He spends the rest of the episode trying to find the right words to explain to his friends what happened, eventually revealing that the two children he talks about in the opening are constructs of his imagination. One of the hardest episodes How I Met Your Mother and for another moment the sitcom took a break from being laugh-out-loud funny to sensitively handle an issue millions of people struggle with every day.
Alyson Hannigan Was One Of Many Sitcom Stars To Hide Her Baby War
Although Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy was hidden as Lily wasn't much in HIMYM's season 4, it's far from the only sitcom to hide the actor's pregnancy on screen.. It happened Seinfeld Not once, but twice, as the irreplaceable Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Elaine, was pregnant in seasons 3 and 8 (via The Things). However, unlike Hannigan, Louis-Dreyfus is heavily involved in most of these seasons. The production worked around Louis-Dreyfus' pregnancy by having the actor wear oversized clothes and large bags, but it still felt natural because the clothes were similar to what Elee would wear.
Julie Bowen who plays Claire Dunphy Modern Familyshe was pregnant with twins in the first episode. When she's on screen, she's sitting behind cereal boxes or doing loads of laundry. Claire holds a pillow as she gives a direct-to-camera interview on the couch the show is famous for. If there was another show, studio executives wouldn't hire her because she was pregnant. Bowen explained:
”
I was pregnant with twins and thought they wouldn't hire me. They kept bringing me in and kind of looking at my belly and I thought, “I'm never doing this.
'” (viaPeople
).
Courtney Cox, who made Monica Gellar famous Friendsshe was pregnant in the last season (via Insider). Ironically, this could not be written into the show because it was already established that Monica and Chandler would not be able to conceive. However, the production worked around it like both Modern Family and Seinfeld they hid their plaster pregnancies. When Monica stood up Friends In season 10, he often has his jacket in front of his stomach or another part of the set is obscuring the view. Hannigan hides her pregnancy while playing Lily How I Met Your Mother Season 4 is one of many examples in the industry.