Image Credit: Eric McCandless/Fox
Fun fact: Executive producer Carter Bays and the How I Met Your Mother team almost considered making last night’s episode of the show and the next new installment (airing Dec. 5) a two-parter episode. That would not have been an unnatural choice, considering the ending left off with Robin revealing to Barney (and the viewers!) that she was pregnant. But if viewers had seen both parts to this story, it would have, as Bays tells EW, been so much easier to talk about.
“I would say the wheels of fate are not done turning for these characters, and it’s definitely a big surprise, but there’s more to come,” Bays teases. “This little story isn’t over yet. I almost feel weird commenting on anything just yet because there are more revelations in store.” For one, says Bays, the question of the baby’s paternity will be “settled pretty quickly,” but there will also be developments that give way to “a bigger story.”
“New questions will arise and I feel like, this story, we are using this device a little bit to set the stage for a bigger story that is setting up the events of the rest of the series which, I guess we do a lot,” he says. “It’s a pretty tumultuous show. This in particular is going to lead to kind of a reshuffling of the group. Not necessarily in this next episode, but this episode will set things in motion for that.”
It’s all part of the show’s greater plan for the year to refocus the story on the group dynamic, he says, pointing to Marshall and Robin’s quiet, revealing scene last night while Robin was locked in the bathroom. After last season, which devoted a fair amount of time to the story of Ted and Zoey (Jennifer Morrison) or their interactions with The Captain (Kyle MacLachlan), it was time to hone in on the gang. But that doesn’t mean Kal Penn’s Kevin is out of the picture. Not at all, actually, as next week will follow up on this week’s big announcement. “There’s just some rocky events coming up with him, obviously. It’s a pretty big event that happened this week and will continue to happen next week and from here on in. It’s a game changer,” Bays says.
As far as Robin’s decision to stay with Kevin instead of Barney, however, that issue is pretty much closed, says Bays. After being down the relationship road with Barney, he explains that her decision was based mainly on the revelation that Kevin was, in all, a nice, sweet guy who was good for her overall well-being. But, he cautions, “The story’s not done being told. There will be some developments.” (Benjamin Wood contributed to this report.)
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