How I Met Your Mother brilliantly gave viewers insight into the later lives of the core characters through clever tidbits and flash-forward sequences, and the series did the same for many secondary characters as well. Many of these recurring roles were played by actors who would pop in time and time again. A few portrayed their character for nearly a decade by appearing throughout the sitcom's entire run.
How I Met Your Mother's supporting cast was important in furthering the storylines that interweaved the lives of Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lily, and Barney. In many cases, the supporting cast were the ones who connected much of story arcs such as the case when Ted ran into his ex-girlfriend, Stella, and it led him to receive a job as a professor. Other characters like Ranjit or Carl served as friendly faces that the gang encountered while going about their daily lives.
In the How I Met Your Mother season 9 episode "Gary Blauman," Ted pondered how easy it was to lose track of acquaintances. The group was trying to figure out if they should allow Gary to attend Barney and Robin's wedding. Gary used to work with Marshall and Barney and had run-ins with the rest of the group. Future Ted revealed to his kids that he decided to keep in touch with a select group of people. Here's what happened to some of How I Met Your Mother's supporting characters according to Ted:
- Ranjit (Marshall Manesh) - After finding success from the stock market, Ranjit went on to become the owner of the limousine company he used to work for.
- Patrice (Ellen D. Williams) - Patrice started her own radio talk-show called "Patrice! in the Morning" and Robin turned out to be one of her frequent callers.
- Carl McLaren (Joe Nieves) - Carl continued serving as the owner of McLaren's Pub and it became a family business after he decided to pass the bar onto his son.
- Jeanette Peterson (Abby Elliot) - After being forced into court-appointed therapy, Jeanette met Kevin Venkataraghavan (Kal Penn) and the pair started dating.
- Scooter (David Burtka) - Scooter went on to marry Lily's doppelgänger, Stripper Lily, and the two became cafeteria servers.
- Steve "The Blitz" Henry (Jorge Garcia) - Steve still had the curse which gave him bad luck in the future. He had a gambling problem and was seen barely missing the jackpot on a slot machine in the casino.
- Sandy Rivers (Alexis Denisof) - A sexual harassment scandal ended Sandy's career in the U.S. so he was forced to move to Russia to continue being a news anchor.
- Zoey Pierson (Jennifer Morrison) - From time to time, Zoey would appear on the news while protesting various causes around the city.
- Blah Blah (Abigail Spencer) - In the future, her real name was revealed to be Carol.
- William Zabka (Himself) - William went on to become the youngest person to ever win the American Humanities Medal for Literature.
- James Stinson (Wayne Brady) - James made amends with his husband Tom (Jai Rodriguez) and the pair go back together and happily raised their kids, Eli and Sadie.
It's clear that most - if not all - of How I Met Your Mother's supporting characters went on to lead great lives after their run-ins with the core group. Some of the actors and actresses themselves landed major roles on other TV shows, so it's good to see that they all had happy endings as well.