How I Met Your Mother fans highlight timeline detail after main character returns in How I Met Your Father

‘I’ve spent the past five minutes trying to figure out where this person is in the original timeline,’ one viewer said

How I Met Your Mother fans were left stunned by the surprise return of an original character in the spin-off series.

The finale of How I Met Your Father aired on Tuesday (14 March), and the event was marked by the first appearance of a main HIMYM cast member.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

For those who are yet to watch the finale, it was Cobie Smulders who returned as Robin Scherbatsky.

The Hulu reboot sees Hilary Duff’s lead character, Sophie Tompkins, walk into MacLaren’s bar, the establishment Robin and her friends frequented in the original series.

Sophie knows Robin “from the news” due to her success as a journalist, and the pair have a moving chat in which Robin gives Sophie some advice while riffing from one her memorable quotes from the original series.

In the original Robin tells Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor): “If you have chemistry, you only need one other thing … timing. But timing’s a bitch.”

Here, she tells Sophie: “If I’ve learned anything about love, timing is everything. And sometimes timing’s a bitch.”

Viewers of the series were left worried, though, as they couldn’t see a ring on Robin’s finger. In the HIMYM finale, after the death of Ted’s wife Tracy (Cristin Milioti), Ted gets together with Robin.

Cobie Smulders returned as Robin in ‘How I Met Your Father’ (Hulu)

However, fans of the original are pointing out that HIMYF is set in 2022, which is actually years before the finale of HIMYM takes place.

Therefore in this particular scene, Ted is still married to Tracy.

One viewer wrote: “I’ve spent the past five minutes trying to figure out where this person is in the original timeline.”

But, many cleared up the confusion, with one fan stating: “LISTEN TRACY IS STILL ALIVE SHE DOESN’T DIE FOR ANOTHER 2 YEADS AND TED AND ROBIN DON’T GET TOGETHER UNTIL 2030 WR CAN DO THIS.”

They shared a gif of somebody feverishly writing notes on a whiteboard.

Another fan, who was initially concerned, then wrote: “Wait so the himym finale showed robin and ted getting back together in 2030 and how i met your father takes place in 2022 so tracy is currently still alive in the himyf universe and robin and ted wont get together for another 8 years.”

The series is available to stream in the US on Hulu and is expected to be added to Disney Plus soon in the UK. A second season has been announced.