"How I Met Your Mother"
Actress Cristin Milioti was revealed to be "the Mother" in the season 8 finale of "How I Met Your Mother." CBS/How I Met Your Mother

“How I Met Your Mother” fans may only have laid eyes on “the mother” for a few seconds in the season 8 finale, but that doesn’t mean actress Cristin Milioti won’t be a major player in the ninth and final season.

Following the big finale reveal, rumors regarding season 9 and Milioti have been circulating the web … and viewers weren’t left to speculate long!

The finale, “Something New,” concluded with the gang heading off on their separate journeys to Robin and Barney’s wedding. Ted revealed to Lily that following the wedding he was going to take a train back into the city so that he can catch his flight to Chicago the following morning. Older episodes explained that Ted would meet the “woman with the yellow umbrella” (his future wife) at the train station after the wedding – the same wedding that “the mother” would be playing the bass at. The final moments of the “Something New” showed the mother walking through the train station and the camera finally cutting to her face when she walked up to the ticket booth.

In a brief introduction for “How I Met Your Mother” fans, co-creator Carter Bays previously dished to TV Line that fans will get to know Cristin Milioti’s character “much better.” How exactly will viewers get acquainted with her? Through the “epic story of the longest wedding weekend ever.”

Rumors began to surface that the entire ninth season would be “HIMYM” dragging out the wedding weekend, and it appears those rumors were right!

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler confirmed to TV Line that the “entire run” of season 9 will STRICTLY be the wedding weekend.

So, how does Cristin Milioti’s character factor into that? “HIMYM” viewers will see how each character met the mother … because Ted won’t be the first one to meet her!

“They each meet her independently before he does,” Tassler explained.

With this latest spoiler fans are now left to ponder how exactly Ted meets her. Judging how involved the group is with each other, our thoughts are that Lily and Marshall will try to set something up.

As of the season 8 finale episode, Lily was the only one to know about Ted’s big move. Since everyone knows that Lily can’t keep a secret, odds are that she’ll tell Marshall and hatch a plan to find Ted his soul mate by the end of the wedding weekend. While Ted and Milioti’s character might have a run-in at the wedding, we doubt that any magic will spark between them because Ted is too focused on Robin.

So, where do our thoughts on Ted’s big meeting with the mother lie? With their definite encounter at the train station after Robin and Barney’s wedding!

Fingers crossed we get to see their relationship develop in flash-forward scenes throughout season 9!

What do you think of the plan to drag the wedding weekend out over season 9?