‘How I Met Your Mother’ Season 9 Spoilers: Patrice Meets Cristin Milioti; Theories On How 'The Mother' Could Meet Robin [PHOTO]

“How I Met Your Mother” is soon coming to an end, but the series won’t conclude until the whole gang meets the “Mother” herself – Cristin Milioti. By now viewers have watched as Ted’s future wife met Lily, Barney and Marshall. With three of the group members down, that means that the only remaining person that Milioti needs to meet before Ted is Robin.

While we don’t know when or how “The Mother” will run into the bride, we do know that she’ll soon come across Robin’s archenemy – Patrice!

Thanks to actress Ellen D. Williams, “How I Met Your Mother” fans got to see Patrice alongside Milioti. “Finally got to meet #CristinMilioti #TheMother she’s so sweet and wonderful,” Williams Instagramed with a photo on Saturday.

The photo shows a smiling Milioti with her arm around Williams’ shoulder. In the background viewers can see a camera behind Williams and a Christmas tree with presents behind Milioti.

We know that Robin and Barney’s wedding weekend falls in May, which means that the photo could be from a couple different scenarios:

1. A “How I Met Your Mother” Christmas Party

The cast could simply be taking a break from filming and be celebrating the holidays with a “How I Met Your Mother” Christmas party. The party would explain the tree in the background, but that leaves the cameras in the left corner of the photo up for questioning.

2. A Flashback

Fans learned that Barney met “The Mother” in a flashback, which means that it’s definitely possible that Milioti’s character has met some of the other characters before. Patrice worked at World Wide News with Robin, and one potential connection to the photo is that Milioti’s band played at a holiday party for WWN. Milioti’s character has also mentioned in a past episode that she had a boyfriend who she doubted was “the one.” Another potential scenario is that “The Mother’s” boyfriend worked at WWN and she accompanied him to his holiday party. If any of those scenarios are true, “The Mother” could have met Robin before the wedding weekend.

3. A Flash-forward

“How I Met Your Mother” loves to flash-forward. This season we’ve got to watch Ted propose to Milioti on top of the lighthouse in Farhampton. One story line that could occur is a flash-forward to a Christmas party that the gang is throwing with Patrice and the mother as guests.

New episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” begin again on Jan. 13. The finale is set to air on March 31 with a special hourlong episode.

What do you think will happen between Patrice and “The Mother”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or send a tweet to @AmandaTVScoop.