‘How I Met Your Mother’ Season 9 Spoilers: Do New Photos From Series Finale Hint That The Mother Dies? Theories About A Death In The Final Episode

Guys, there are only five episodes left of “How I Met Your Mother” until the most anticipated series finale in the history of TV airs. No offense, “Breaking Bad” fans, but we’ve been waiting since 2005 to finally learn how Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) meets his wife (Cristin Milioti). Now the final episode, “Last Forever,” is so close we can practically taste it. And it tastes pretty salty—like, tears?

Well, that’s probably because the series finale of “HIMYM” will have you balling your eyes out thanks to show creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays. During the final table read of the CBS show, the cast and crew confessed to needing plenty of Kleenex as they discovered how the beloved series was going to end. “Today we are having our last ever HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER table read. Carter & Craig are trying to rip my heart out on Valentine’s Day,” Alyson Hannigan, who plays Lily, wrote on Twitter.

The actress later posted a photo to her social media account of what the table read looked like after she read her final line. “Umm…so this is how the last HIMYM Table Read went for me,” she said, showing fans a picture of used tissues surrounding the script.

But Hannigan wasn’t the only one who broke while reading her last lines. According to reports, Radnor began blubbering like a baby when glimpsing through the script. “Read the HIMYM series finale script on the treadmill at the gym this morning,” the actor tweeted. “People probably thought that was sweat in my eyes. Suckers.”

So, what’s with all the tears? Well, we have a theory of why the entire cast and crew were sobbing after finding out the ending to the nine season-long show, and we don’t think you’re going to like it. According to theories, the mother is actually dead. Now, we know this sounds a little insane at first but let us give some explanation behind this seemingly mad speculation.

First off, we question why Ted has been telling his children this elaborate story of how he met their mother for nine seasons now. Is it because the family is reminiscing about Milioti’s character? Considering the theory is true, perhaps Ted is trying to give his kids as much information about their mom as he possibly can since they seem to be relatively young at the time of her death.

Another reason it’s to be believed that the mother dies at the end of the series finale is because Bays and Thomas have bluntly admitted that they’ve known how they wanted “HIMYM” to end since they began writing the script nine years ago.

"There's certain things as you create a show that over the years your expectations of what the show is going to be change and you write it differently and you change your game plan, and we've done that with a lot of things on the show but there are certain core fundamental things that we don't want to veer away from, and one of those is how the series ends. And with that in mind, this decision was made years ago and I don't think we've ever even shaken from how we want to end it," Bay told E! News. "I think it'll be a fantastic series finale. The series finale is kind of why we've done the show all along and whenever we do get to do that finale, we're very excited about it because I think it's going to be really heartbreaking, and sweet and wonderful."

Heartbreaking you say, Bays? Although the show is considered a comedy, “HIMYM” has been no stranger to introducing tragic topics. Like, how the Mother’s former boyfriend, Max, died in a catastrophic accident. Was that foreshadowing of the mother’s own death?

We remember Milioti’s character explaining to her roommate that she’s old fashioned when it comes to love and believes everyone has one soul mate. Do we hear her say this not only because she will eventually learn to disregard that idea, but for Ted’s sake, too? Maybe we watch her contradict that approach because she wants Ted to move on with his life after her death.

Here’s the last piece of evidence we have gathered for why this theory might actually be true: During “The Time Travelers” we watched Ted storm to his future wife’s home to let her know they will be meeting in exactly 45 days. And while we obsessed over the fact that we now had a distinct timeline of when the Mother would come into play during the series, we overlooked the strange speech Ted gave her while standing at her doorway.

"Exactly 45 days from now, you and I are going to meet. We're going to fall in love and we're going to get married, and we're going to have two kids. We're going to love them and each other so much. All that is 45 days away, but I'm here now, I guess because I want those extra 45 days with you. I want each one of them…I am always going to love you. Until the end of my days and beyond."

Uh, those extra 45 days? Until the end of my days and beyond? Is this some sort of goodbye speech? The more that you read into it the more it sounds like one. We just hope we’re so very, very wrong about this theory.

What do you think? Could Thomas and Bay really kill off the Mother during the series finale? Let us know your predication in the comments section below and don’t forget to tune into “HIMYM” when episode 18 airs Feb. 24.