Which ‘HIMYM’ scene was too ‘gut-wrenching’ to make the cut?

MANILA, Philippines – Almost a month after the series finale of How I Met Your Mother, star Alyson Hannigan (who played Lily Aldrin on the show) revealed to TV Line during a charity event in Los Angeles, a crucial deleted scene that could have possibly changed our reaction to the gut-wrenching finale. (READ: Highlights from 9 years of How I Met Your Mother)

Spoiler alert: if you haven’t read about or seen the finale, you’ll want to stop reading now. 

In the finale, fans saw the death of the mother, Tracy McConnell, after falling ill for unknown reasons. This was revealed via a montage of life after marriage for Ted Mosby, narrator of the show, and Tracy. A brief clip of Ted reading to his wife on her hospital bed was shown. After which, the story moved back to the present with Ted showing up at Robin’s place holding the symbolic Blue French Horn.

In the show, this profession of love happened six years after the mother’s death, but for the viewers, this came shortly after the shocking reveal.

Hannigan revealed that during the “perfect” table read for the final episode, the script was actually much longer than what was aired. The last episode was some 18 minutes shorter than the original script. Among the deleted scenes was a “one-second” montage of Ted mourning the death of his wife at her funeral.

“Honestly, if you saw [that] cut, it would be even more heart-wrenching than what the finale was,” said Hannigan, “They were like, ‘No. It’s just too gut-wrenching.’ And I was like, ‘That’s what I want. I want my heart ripped out and slammed on the floor and, like, stomped on!’”

Immediately after the finale, many HIMYM fans took to the Internet to voice out their disappointment over the conclusion of the show, with many protesting over the aired ending. (READ: ‘How I Met Your Mother’ ends, gets mixed reactions from fans) 

Hannigan believes that the deleted scene  “would have been better for the audience, so that then they can process, ‘Oh, [Ted] mourned. He got closure’ — and then they’d be happy that [he and Robin] got together. Rather than be like, ‘Oh, wait. She died? What? They’re together, huh?’ And credits. That’s what I think was too fast.”

The “perfect” table read was supposedly caught on camera. Although it is unclear whether this footage will be included in the DVD box set of the series, producers have earlier confirmed the release of an alternate ending to the show that may appease the fans’ anger over the unhappy ending.

Meanwhile, fans can also start getting excited about the upcoming How I Met Your Dad, which already has its main cast, with Meg Ryan being the latest to join the lineup as the voice of the older version of the star, Sally, to be played by Greta Gerwig. 

Would a funeral scene change how you felt about the show’s ending? – Rappler.com