Josh Radnor, Cristin Milioti and Alyson Hannigan talk 'How I Met Your Mother' series finale

IGN caught up with Josh Radnor, Cristin Milioti and Alyson Hannigan at PaleyFest 2014 to get their thoughts about the How I Met Your Mother series finale, which airs Monday night with a special one-hour installment at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Firstly, Hannigan revealed that the writers gave Lily plenty of emotional material to work with in the final episode, and she had to figure out how to get through it all without shedding numerous tears. She also noted they had to get Jason Segel out of there quickly because of his schedule.

Radnor said he opened the script on a Wednesday or Thursday night but was too tired to read it because of a long day of shooting and wanted to be fresh when he read it. So he went through it the next morning and had a "special experience" reading it.

He also said the table read felt like the beginning of the end and when it really sunk in that the show was ending. He also said he looked at the show itself to help him because so much of it is about accepting change and transitions. He said it has a lot of truth in it about rights of passage.

As for its legacy, Radnor hopes HIMYM influences future shows and that people don't "learn the wrong lesson" that the show was style over substance. He believes the show had a "big beating heart."

Milioti, who joined the cast this season, said she could have gone another two years with it and didn't want it to end, even though she feels like she doesn't have the right to say it. She also said she has read other pilots recently and she sees so much of HIMYM in these other shows now.

What do you expect from the finale? Let us know in the comments below.