‘How I Met Your Mother’ season 9 spoilers; ‘Karate Kid’ star returns for major arc

This wedding between Barney and Robin on “How I Met Your Mother” season 9 is turning out to be quite the star-studded affair. First, there was the news that Wayne Brady, John Lithgow, and Ellen D. Williams would be returning as all of their respective characters. Now, the story that we have to share is that a popular face from “The Bro Mitzvah” is going to be coming back for more.

As for who we are talking about specifically, it’s none other than former “Karate Kid” star William Zabka! He was a surprise guest at Barney’s bachelor party, as it seemed for most of the episode that Ralph Macchio was the actor from the movie franchise who had been invited to the event. However, Zabka was there the entire time under a layer of clown makeup.

This glorious news was first confirmed by series star Cobie Smulders in a post on Instagram, which was somewhat of a surprise given that such an announcement was probably meant to be saved for either a media outlet later or the actual show. Obviously, the actor (playing himself) and Barney become some sort of friends in the wake of everything that happened at the end of last year. Zabka will reportedly appear in eight episodes, which seems like quite a bit considering that it is a third of the season. We just hope that they devise something great for him to do in that span of time, in addition to all of the other characters that have been given multiple-episode arcs.

While “How I Met Your Mother” is keeping many things under wraps right now for the show, you can click here to see some of the first footage of the Mother save for that reveal that happened during the spring.

Photo: CBS