'Gut-wrenching' How I Met Your Mother deleted scene would have fixed the finale, says Alison Hannigan

Tracy's death featured more heavily in the original version (Ron P Jaffe / Fox Television)

As How I Met Your Mother fans still come to terms with the hollowness of the show's finale, Alison Hannigan has revealed that a one-second funeral montage that was deleted from it could have given the episode a whole different tone.

The show's star Josh Radnor previously very diplomatically admitted to having some reservations about how the finale went down (a recap on that here), but Hannigan was more vocal on her problems with it.

The deleted scene was a "one-second" montage of the mother's (Tracy) funeral, a presumably more emotional moment than when her death was reported by the narrator in retrospect.

Talking to TVLine about the montage, she said: "Honestly, if you saw [that] cut, it would be even more heart-wrenching than what the finale was.

Ted eventually wound up with Robin (Picture: CBS)

"They were like, ‘No. It’s just too gut-wrenching.’ And I was like, ‘That’s what I want. I want my heart ripped out and slammed on the floor and, like, stomped on!'"

She went on to explain how she felt that miss piece "would have been better for the audience, so that then they can process, ‘Oh, [Ted] mourned. He got closure’ — and then they’d be happy that [he and Robin] got together. Rather than be like, ‘Oh, wait. She died? What? They’re together, huh?’ And credits. That’s what I think was too fast."

Many fans felt cheated by HIMYM's conclusion, which saw Ted end up with 'Aunt Robin', an experience which the producers may learn from when they bring spin-off series How I Met Your Dad to the small screen.