Fans of "How I Met Your Mother" often know that Ted and Marshall are based on the series creators. However, in a 2005 interview with Zap2it, Craig Thomas revealed that the character Lily is based on his wife Rebecca Alson-Milkman. He explained that Alson-Milkman is a big fan of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," which Alyson Hannigan starred in from 1997 to 2003 (Via IMDb). Craig said, "None of us knew about 'Buffy,' and my wife said, 'Watch 'Buffy.” And we became almost embarrassingly huge 'Buffy' dorks to the point where I think Alyson is uncomfortable around us sometimes."
Later, at the 2006 William S. Paley Television Festival, he added that Alson-Milkman specifically requested Hannigan to portray her. According to CBR, he said he told his wife, "We're writing a pilot and we're going to make a character based on you." And she basically said, "'That kind of freaks me out. I'll let you do it if you can get Alyson Hannigan to play me. If you can get Willow!' And somehow it happened!"
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEpaCsrF6YvK57knJpcmhgZLWww4yao7Krn6N6qa3Np6CgmZ5isq%2BwxJ1krqhdpLtutM6wZKJlnZrBbsXOrqlmpZ%2Bptaa%2Bjg%3D%3D