Last Forever
Writing
### Writing

Before writing the episode, [Carter Bays](/wiki/Carter_Bays "Carter Bays") and [Craig Thomas](/wiki/Craig_Thomas_%28screenwriter%29 "Craig Thomas (screenwriter)") decided to watch the series finales of other sitcoms for inspiration. They said that they crafted the last ten minutes of the series right from the start. In February 2014, Bays [tweeted](/wiki/Twitter "Twitter") that he found a rough draft of the series finale that he first wrote in 2006\. In an interview with [CNN](/wiki/CNN "CNN"), Thomas revealed that there was worry among the cast that the series was doomed to fail. He added that he felt that they had written a successful ending for the series.

Before the airing of the series finale, debates raged among fans concerning the fate of Ted and the Mother, fueled by scenes from various episodes through the ninth season which seemed to foreshadow a tragic ending. Additionally the [season 7](/wiki/How_I_Met_Your_Mother_season_7 "How I Met Your Mother season 7") episode "[Tailgate](/wiki/Tailgate_%28How_I_Met_Your_Mother%29 "Tailgate (How I Met Your Mother)") " featured a headstone reading "Mother". Which [Screen Rant](/wiki/Screen_Rant "Screen Rant")'s Kara Hedash attributed to being for The Mother.


How did watching the series finales affect their approach to writing the How I Met Your Mother series finale?