'How I Met Your Mother' Season 9 Premiere: We Meet the Mother and More

We've waited years to find out the identity of "the mother" in "How I Met Your Mother," and now we know—sort of. But there are still many questions left to answer, and it's not at all clear how the series will pull all its many plot threads together. With the beginning of the ninth and final season less than three weeks away, we won't have to wait much longer to find out, though.

At the conclusion of last season, Ted (Josh Radnor) was feeling a resurgence of his feelings for Robin (Cobie Smulders), a turn of events that could jeopardize the wedding of Robin and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). Meanwhile, Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) are on potentially conflicting career paths. The season finale saw the group converging on the site of wedding, and we got a glimpse of Ted's future partner (Cristin Milioti) as she bought her ticket for Farhampton, the place where she and Ted will finally meet.

A teaser promo released by CBS (embedded below) hints that someone might be intent on ruining Robin and Barney's wedding—and the logical money is on Ted—but that's likely a red herring. We don't know for sure that Robin and Barney are destined to be together, but we know—thanks to years of Ted referring to "Aunt Robin" when he talks to his kids—that he and Robin won't be settling down together for the long term. For her part, Smulders sees a happy ending for Robin and Barney.

And we won't have to refer to Milioti's character as "the mother" much longer, either; she'll have a name when the season begins. The character will meet one of the regulars—most likely Lily—on the season premiere.

Season 9 of "How I Met Your Mother" begins Sept. 23 on CBS.