HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER In Talks For Season 9

Variety reports that the CBS network and 20th Century Fox are currently in talks to renew the popular comedy series HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER for a ninth season. The discussion between the two is said to be in the "preliminary stages."

Contracts for the show's five main stars, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel and Cobie Smulders as well as co-creators/co-executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas will expire after the upcoming eighth season. The network's licensing deal with 20th Century Fox, which produces the series, will also end next May.

The long-running show wrapped its second-most watched season to date in the spring, an unusual event to occur so late in a show's run. The result may be that CBS will have to open its pockets to keep the series in production. 

Last season 'MOTHER' averaged 8.5 million total viewers and a 3.4 rating in adults 18-49. That number would have been even higher if the show was not pitted against NBC's popular reality series "The Voice" midseason. The show also attracts the youngest audience on the network,  with the median age of its viewership at 45.7.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER will premiere its eighth season on Monday, September 24 at 8pm ET on CBS.

Photo courtesy of CBS