How I Met Your Mother character Sandy Rivers has appeared in How I Met Your Father season 2, episode 5, and the cameo could secretly set up Lily’s return. Sandy was the co-anchor of Robin, who already appeared in the spinoff series, but an offscreen connection could lead to Lily making a cameo of her own. Sandy is the sixth How I Met Your Mother character to cameo on How I Met Your Father and there is likely more to come.
Sandy made his appearance at the beginning of How I Met Your Father season 2, episode 5, interviewing Jesse and Meredith ahead of her tour. It also teased a storyline that has not yet happened in the wider How I Met Your Mother timeline, where Sandy gets canceled due to a scandal and has to move to Russia in order to continue working as a news anchor. How I Met Your Father has had many connections to its original series through character cameos, the return of iconic sets, and the continuation of gags and other storylines, but Sandy’s HIMYF cameo brings the series one step closer to a Lily return.
HIMYM's Sandy Rivers Actor Is Married To Alyson Hannigan (Who Played Lily)
Sandy Rivers is played by Alexis Denisof, who has been married to Lily actress Alyson Hannigan since 2003. The couple met when Denisof played Wesley and Hannigan played Willow on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In appearing in How I Met Your Father season 2, Denisof opened the door for his wife to make a cameo as the beloved Lily Aldrin. Ahead of How I Met Your Father season 2, cast members teased "insane" cameos, one of which came from Denisof’s Sandy. Another could come from Lily, and perhaps even her husband Marshall as well.
In 2020, Hannigan claimed (via E!) that she would be interested in a How I Met Your Mother reunion, and that when reading the finale script, she was "sort of sad because [she] felt there was no chance of a reunion." By having How I Met Your Father be a spinoff rather than a reboot, it leaves the door open for cameos and reunions in different ways, as highlighted by the return of Sandy Rivers. Further cameos are especially likely given how the timeline works between HIMYM and HIMYF. While How I Met Your Mother wrapped up Lily’s story, there are still plenty of opportunities for her narrative to intersect with How I Met Your Father’s.
Why It Makes Sense For Lily To Cameo In How I Met Your Father
Lily would not be the first How I Met Your Mother main character to cameo in How I Met Your Father. Cobie Smulders' Robin appeared in the HIMYF season 1 finale, while Neil Patrick Harris' Barney has already appeared in a season 2 flash-forward, and will return later in the season. When Lily was last seen in How I Met Your Mother, she was experiencing success as an art curator and happily married to Marshall with their three children. Her job as an art consultant perfectly explains how Lily could make a HIMYF cameo, given Sophie’s own job as a photographer.
In How I Met Your Father season 2, Sophie made the decision to focus more on her photography career rather than her messy romantic relationships from season 1. Her job could lead her to meet Lily, and Lily could even help Sophie by commissioning her work. It is still unknown how Barney will fit into How I Met Your Father, and Robin’s cameo simply happened through Sophie going to MacLaren’s Pub. Lily would be the most natural of all the original HIMYM main characters to include, and Sandy’s cameo just secretly hinted at her How I Met Your Father debut.