HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER’s Craig Thomas and Cobie Smulders Tease the Return of Robin Sparkles

The legend of Robin Sparkles takes a dark turn in tonight’s brand new episode of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

“It’s definitely a HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER where it’s not like [there are] lots of fractured storylines that are unrelated to each other, which I like,” HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER co-creator Craig Thomas told me during a recent conference call. “I think a lot of our best episodes have one central theme, and this theme is obsession. What’s the fine line between love and obsession and can anyone be stalker-y? Could that happen to anyone? And everyone’s storyline falls under that one theme. So in the end, the story of Robin Sparkles and her new identity and her new song sheds light on the rest of the gang and where they fall on that line of crazy and love.”

And yes, the rest of the gang will be as thrilled as you’d expect to get another song from the former Canadian pop princess.

“In the end, they’re crazy-excited there’s Robin Sparkles,” Thomas said. “In the moment when they find out, I think Jason Segel (Marshall) is literally doing weird karate kicks, he was that excited in the episode. Unscripted. That was something Segel felt in the moment. They were thrilled, but ultimately, it factors into all their storylines in the episode, including Abby Elliott. Abby Elliott’s character Jeanette comes into Ted’s life in this episode and actually sparks this whole episode and sparks the debate of what’s charming and what’s alarming. What kind of gesture counts as a grand romantic gesture when you’re trying to win someone over and what counts as, ‘Oh my God, this person is effing insane.’ So it’s within that debate that all of this takes place.”

Of course, Robin’s new fiance, Barney, once again has a role in revealing the video’s existence.

“Barney’s always involved when there’s an unveiling of a Robin Sparkles video, and in this case, an argument comes up about…how does one become obsessed with another person?” Cobie Smulders (Robin) teased. “And Robin reveals she was very much obsessed with someone in her past; she acted a little crazy. And it sort of makes Barney go out there and find out who that person is, until he becomes obsessed with finding that person….he goes on this mission and at the of this mission, he finds that video.”

And with the show coming to an end soon, this very well could be the last time we experience Robin Sparkles.

“We’d never rule anything out on this show…this is definitely something we had planned for a long time; it felt like the appropriate next step for Robin Sparkles to us,” Thomas noted. “We always want to do Robin Sparkles in a way that felt new and not like we’re treading the same ground. I think this achieves it…we’re pretty happy with this as a potential final chapter. If it’s the end, it feels like a pretty fitting end.”

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HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER airs Mondays at 8 PM on CBS.

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