Who Plays Abby On How I Met Your Mother

So someone asked: "Who plays Abby on How I Met Your Mother?" And at first, we all nodded along, because we love throwing out HIMYM trivia at dinner parties just to feel superior for exactly four seconds. But then a curious silence crept in — like the one that follows when Barney says something deeply hurtful dressed up as a compliment.

Abs in her natural habitat: Barney's apartment. Just kidding. Or is she?

Wait — Who Exactly Is Abby?

Here is where things get wonderfully weird. You scroll through the entire nine-season saga of HIMYM — 208 episodes, a million slap jokes later, and one wedding that lasted three seasons — and Abby does not pop up in any prominent way. Not as Ted's date, not as Barney's fling, not even as the unnamed woman who witnessed Marshall's "Suit Up!" moment.

So either you are thinking of a completely different show, or you have built an entire character in your head — which, honestly, is exactly what Barney would have done.

Fun fact: HIMYM's writers loved making us remember things that never happened. That's kind of their whole vibe.

The Great "Abby" Mix-Up

Your brain might be jumbling things up with "How I Met Your Father", the spin-off where the vibe is equally chaotic but somehow even more confusing. Or maybe you are picturing "Abby" from "How to Get Away with Murder", where the stakes are much higher than missing a blind date at a doctor's office.

Then again, you could also be thinking of Nora, Victoria, Jeanette, or Honey — all of them fabulous women who tempted the HIMYM gang in their own wonderfully destructive ways. Every name starts somewhere between the vowels and confusion.

How I Met Your Mother Abby

The line between memory and invention blurs faster than Barney changes opinions about what he is going to do tonight. So don't feel bad — your subconscious clearly thinks it forgot someone special.

Who Actually Stars in HIMYM?

For the record, the people you see on screen are Josh Radnor as Ted, Neil Patrick Harris as the legendary Barney, Jason Segel as Marshall, Alyson Hannigan as Lily, and Cobie Smulders as Robin. Cristin Milioti rounds out the main cast as The Mother, whom Ted met three years into his show and everybody cheers about.

But between those stars, the show loaded us with guest gems like Robin Williams, Brittany Spears, and Sarah Chalke. There was lavish romance, slap fights, and a trust exercise involving an actual cow. Somehow nobody remembered to squeeze in a character named Abby.

‘How I Met Your Mother’ Season 8 Casts’ ‘SNL’ Star Abby Elliott

The Honest Answer (With a Fun Wiggle)

Nobody plays Abby on How I Met Your Mother — because she doesn't exist in the canon. Unless you are thinking of somebody from every other TV show ever broadcast after 2005, in which case, congratulations: you have officially made up an entire crossover.

But hey, at least you've got a mystery. Barney would call that "mystery" simply making trouble and then pretending it was awesome all along. So in true HIMYM spirit, this question always ends with: legend — or is it?