How I Met Your Mother was inspired by 9/11 attacks, says Creators

Creators of “How I Met Your Mother” Carter Bays and Craig Thomas noted that the popular sitcom has emotional roots inspired by the September 11 attacks on World Trade Centre.

On September 11, 2001, there were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States, where the planes crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center.

Bays and Thomas discussed the show’s roots during a New York Television Festival, revealing that the two had been working as staff writers on the “Late Show with David Letterman”, but wanted to write material with characters and storylines outside of the series’ signature format, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“It really was a ‘do it now or never do it’ moment. Life is short this is something we want to do eventually, we should do it,” Bays said.

The creators said the tragedy also informed the tone of the pilot.

“We have to write something bigger and with emotion, and (that) talks about twists and turns in life,” said Thomas.

Adding to that, Bays said, “It informed HIMYM in very subtle ways. For two 29-year-olds to be writing something so nostalgic... (Because we learned) Wow, life really is about chapters closing and things coming to an end, and things pivoting on an axis that will never pivot back.”