After resolving one of TV's longest-running questions with the casting of Cristin Milioti last season, How I Met Your Mother does not hold back on showcasing the new series regular in the one-hour season premiere.
The new addition, revealed to be the titular "Mother" and future wife of Josh Radnor's Ted, has two big scenes as the CBS comedy kicks off its ninth and final run. And while they've already filmed a slew more -- HIMYM is actually on something of a fast-tracked production schedule this year -- Milioti says she's still largely in the dark. She doesn't even know her character's name.
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"I have no idea," she told reporters last week. "I don't know much of what's happening as the season progresses, but I don't know the Mother's name at all."
What she does know, Milioti is obliged to tap dance around -- mostly because the co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas took the occasion of the one-hour premiere to inform fans that while the Mother may be meeting the rest of the gang before she meets Ted, that does not mean they won't be sharing scenes together.
The second part of the opener concluded with Ted and the Mother checking into Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin's (Cobie Smulders) wedding venue one year after they meet -- already very much in love and in a relationship.
"There's one scene with Josh that I shot that I'm very excited about," Milioti says, noting there will be more of them together in upcoming episodes. "I don't want to give anything away, because I think it will be a wonderful reveal, but it's very very exciting."
The episode in question is currently slated for Nov. 4.
As for how her life has changed since appearing for just a moment of the eighth season finale, the Broadway veteran says she hasn't been recognized that much -- but when she has, she's also been solicited for hugs.
"It's [happened] enough where I don't have an exact number for you," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "The fans of the show are so dedicated and supportive. Someone could come up to me and say, 'Really, you?' But they haven't. They've been really sweet."
