"How I Met Your Mother" Season 8 will pick up from the future wedding bit as seen in last season's finale, and then it will move the story forward in the present time. The question that remains is: Could this be the last season of the hit comedy series?

Negotiations have opened up on the future of HIMYM. But CBS, the show runners and the cast have yet to make a decision.

Josh Radnor, who plays the hopeless romantic architect Ted Mosby, has spoken about the possibility of a ninth season. But he was careful not to keep the fans' hope up.

"So many things have to drop into place for that to happen. They really need to figure it out because the writers need to know. They're the pressing issue right now because they have to figure out if they're wrapping up the show at the end of season eight or season nine. (We've) just very recently been approached about that and we really can't say either way right now," Radnor told The Hollywood Reporter.

For the network's part, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler has hinted the network is willing to work things out for another season of How I Met Your Mother.

"They know we want the show to come back next year, we're having conversations right now... We're not there yet in terms of resolving the season, we're in early conversations and we're pretty optimistic," Tassler said.

HIMYM creators and show runners Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have said in previous interviews that they know how things will end in the series. It is all just a matter of knowing how much time they have left.

So what can fans expect from HIMYM when it returns with fresh episodes in a couple of weeks' time?

Speaking to cartermatt.com,

Cobie Smulders, who plays the pop-teen-idol-turned-broadcaster Robin Scherbatsky, told E! the series would show how the group grows up from a gang of carefree adults to individuals with new priorities. She particularly addressed the case between Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel).

"I think it shifts the couples' priorities ... Just their ability to stay awake, which is sort of what happens in the first episode. When you have another creature in your life, things change. I think that this group that we have here is tight enough that everyone is going to come together as opposed to kind of fall apart and kind drop off and go on to do their own thing."

Could Season 8 be HIMYM's final installment? The answer will be revealed soon.

Are you excited to see the gang on "How I Met Your Mother" Season 8? CBS will air the new season's premiere episode on September 24.