Who was Tracy McConnell in How I Met Your Mother?

Show

How I Met Your Mother

Played by

Cristin Milioti

First episode

“Something New”Season 8, Episode 24, aired May 13, 2013

Role

Main cast

Network

CBS

Occupation

Bass player and economics student

Show run

2005 to 2014

Also known as

The Mother, Tracy Mosby

Tracy McConnell is the Mother, the woman Future Ted spends nine seasons telling his kids about. Played by Cristin Milioti, she is first seen at the end of season eight and becomes a full member of the cast in the final season.

On How I Met Your Mother, Tracy McConnell's story runs through Ted Mosby (Husband), Lily Aldrin (Friend), Marshall Eriksen (Friend), Barney Stinson (Friend), and Robin Scherbatsky (Friend).

Who was Tracy McConnell?

For most of the series, the Mother is a mystery known only through clues: a yellow umbrella, a bass guitar, an economics class Ted wandered into by mistake, and a promise that Ted would meet her on the day of a friend's wedding. When she finally appears at the end of the season eight finale, buying a train ticket to Farhampton with her umbrella and her bass, the show starts filling in her side of the story.

She is a musician who plays bass in a band, studied economics, and shares many of Ted's passions and nerdy quirks. Before meeting Ted she lost a boyfriend, Max, whom she believed was her one true love, and spent years grieving him. Her name, Tracy McConnell, is not confirmed until the series finale.

Personality and comedy

Tracy is kind, quick, and quietly confident, the kind of person who makes friends with strangers on a train. She plays the ukulele, sings, and matches Ted's love of trivia and big romantic ideas. The final season's flash forwards show the two of them finishing each other's jokes, which sold many viewers on the pairing.

The show had a fun structural trick with her: Tracy meets every member of the gang before she meets Ted. She bonds with Lily on a train, gives a stranded Marshall and baby Marvin a ride to the inn, chats with Robin before the wedding, and even pushes Barney toward Robin in a flashback.

Key storylines

The 200th episode, "How Your Mother Met Me," tells her story from her own point of view across the years before she meets Ted, showing how often their paths almost crossed. It covers her grief over Max, the night she turns down a proposal from her boyfriend Louis, and the moment she decides she is ready to move on, singing on a balcony at the Farhampton Inn while Ted listens next door.

In the finale, "Last Forever," Ted finally meets her on the Farhampton train platform after Barney and Robin's wedding reception. They date, get engaged, have two children, Penny and Luke, and marry years later. The finale also reveals that Tracy became ill and died in 2024, six years before Ted tells his kids the story.

Casting and reaction

Creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas wanted an unknown actress rather than a big star, so that viewers would meet the Mother the way Ted did. They chose Cristin Milioti after seeing her work on 30 Rock and in the Broadway musical Once, and her musical talent fit a character described as a band member. Milioti has said she shot her first scene without having watched the show and only grasped how big the role was after catching up that summer.

Tracy's death in the finale was one of the most debated sitcom endings of its era, and many fans felt the show did not give her enough time. The complete series DVD later included an alternate ending in which she is alive and happily married to Ted.

Tracy McConnell: frequently asked questions

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