It took eight long, sometimes excruciating years for viewers to find out the identity of the “mother” on the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”
The answer was finally revealed Monday night in the season finale, when actress Cristin Milioti showed her face for a fleeting minute, buying a train ticket to Barney and Robin’s wedding in “Farhampton,” the show’s fanciful, fictitious stand-in for the East Hampton.
Milioti will appear regularly next season, the show’s last, beginning in September.
“Our ninth season will tell the epic story of the longest wedding weekend ever,” says executive producer Carter Bays.
Milioti’s musical abilities were key to clinching the role, as The Mother plays bass in Barney and Robin’s wedding band.
Regular theatergoers might recognize Milioti from her role as “Girl” in the long-running Broadway musical “Once.”
She won a Grammy Award and was nominated for a Tony for her work in that show.
Her handful of TV credits include appearances on “The Good Wife” and Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie.”
Martin Scorsese recently cast Milioti in a small role in his forthcoming film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” with Leonardo Di Caprio, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey.
Despite all the waiting — and guessing games — that have surrounded one of TV’s longest-running mysteries, fan reaction — on Twitter at least — was generally favorable to the big reveal.
The entire show is meant to be a flashback as a father — Ted Mosby played by Josh Radnor — tells his children the (very long) story of how their parents got together.
For months, Ted has been teasing the arrival of a girl with a yellow umbrella.
When Milioti appeared at Grand Central Terminal to buy a ticket — carrying the tell-tale umbrella — fans knew she would someday be the mom of the show’s title.
“HIMYM” fan Sagar Patel @s-patel92 tweeted, “Can not wait until Season 9 for How I Met Your Mother…Finally we meet Ted’s wife. #GoingToBeEpic.”
Anna Hammerschmidt tweeted, @AnnaHammer1, “I’ve never been more excited than for that last minute of how i met your mother. #newseasonplease.”