How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segel made headlines when he told an Austrian website that he planned to leave the CBS sitcom after its upcoming eighth season, regardless of whether or not the show will return for another season after that.
In an interview with the website kurier.at, Segel was reported as saying: “It’s great to do some ‘rated R’ stuff again, because I’ve been playing the nice guy for quite a long time now. That’s why I’m gonna quit How I Met Your Mother after the eighth season.”
Although this would make sense, given Segel’s burgeoning film career with hits such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets (in which he served as both star and screenwriter), Segel’s representative says the whole thing is a misunderstanding. According to eonline.com, a rep for the actor issued this not-quite-a-denial response: “Perhaps something got lost in translation, but season nine hasn’t even been addressed yet.”
Segel has been a member of the HIMYM cast since 2005. The eighth season is scheduled to premiere on Monday, September 24 on CBS.
Meanwhile, an unnamed source told eonline that Segel’s exit from HIMYM after season eight is a distinct possibility, and he may not be the only one to leave.
“Jason and Alyson [Hannigan] are the two least likely to want to do a season nine,” the insider told eonline.com. “It would take a lot of money to keep them. A lot.”
