When Will How I Met Your Mother End? Plus: Ted's Soul-Searching, Marshall and Lily's Big Move

How I Met Your Mother When will How I Met Your Mother end? There's one important question that has to be answered first: "We have to see if the Mayans were right first," Jason Segel joked to reporters Wednesday at CBS' winter TV preview. Asked if the long-running comedy - currently in its seventh season and renewed for an eighth - has an end date, co-creator and executive producer Carter Bays said, "it's not a high priority" for the series. "I would imagine going into the final season, we would [alert] people to that... Beyond that, I think it's hard for us to say on [a given date] we will officially be out of ideas." Watch full episodes of How I Met Your Mother When that day comes, however, producers have a plan for how the show will wrap. "The meeting [of the mother] will be part of the end game," Bays said. As for how much viewers will see beyond that initial meet-cute, producers refused to say. Bays and co-creator and executive producer Craig Thomas have already been thinking about casting the pivotal role, and appear to be leaning towards an unknown, pointing to the success of casting then-unknown Cobie Smulders as Ted's first love, Robin. "She should have been the mother," Thomas said. "We screwed up!" No matter how long it takes for Ted (Josh Radnor) to meet the one, Segel said he was now open to seeing the story through to the end; he previously said the show should wrap after Season 8. "I'd like to see the story come to its natural end, whether its eight years or nine years," he said. "I was so relieved when I found out there was an actual plan." Check out photos from How I Met Your Mother In the interim, producers teased what they've got planned for February sweeps. There's "big, soul-searching stuff" ahead for Ted as he assesses his readiness to get married and questions why he still hasn't found the one. "He's going to come up with what he thinks is the answer and then we'll explore whether that answer is right." Marshall and Lily will also struggle with their next big life step as they get ready to have a baby. "It's a real identity crisis when a baby is on the way and we're going to explore that," Bays said. This coming week's episode will see the couple officially move to the suburbs and deal with being away from their friends. But Thomas said the 'burbs are "not necessarily a permanent stop." How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays at 8/7c on CBS.