Many Clarkies were upset over the How I Met Your Mother series finale that aired on March 31. The finale left most of the fans in a confused daze with a mix of “but… what…I… why?!” Because the final episode went through a couple decades within the last half hour, fans felt cheated out of the characters’ 40s and 50s.

Even though the final episode looked like it was put together last minute, the co-creator of the show, Carter Bays, revealed that they have known how the show was going to end since the beginning. According to ABC News, Bays said, “This is the ending we conceived when we conceived the show 10 years ago. It’s what we’ve been steadfastly writing towards ever since.” Also according to ABC News, not many shows allow the fans to have a clear understanding of how the show will end, but How I Met Your Mother did. At the least, the fans knew that the end of the show would result in Ted meeting the mother.

It seemed as though the creators ruined a plotline that they had been developing over the past nine years in just one hour, making the How I Met Your Mother fans search for closure that the show did not give. However, the creators have announced that there will be an alternate ending in the DVD box set.