It wasn't all that long ago when it seemed as if Alyson Hannigan was everywhere. After making her breakthrough on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," she landed the role of Michelle in 1999's "American Pie," delivering one of the movie's most famous lines. During the following decade she became known for playing one of the main characters in the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother." However, when "How I Met Your Mother" went off the air in 2014, Hannigan seemed to drop off the map.
Hannigan's oft-repeated line from "American Pie" still follows her about to this day, but we don't see the actor anywhere near as much as we used to. Big roles have been harder to come by in the years since she was a well-known face in Tinseltown, so what happened? Well, there are actually a number of factors that led to her all-but-vanishing. Here's why Hollywood won't cast Alyson Hannigan anymore.
Quick — think of an Alyson Hannigan movie not named after a patriotic dessert. Yeah ... we couldn't think of one either. No matter what else she does, Hannigan will always be remembered for "American Pie" in terms of her big screen contributions. However, while many people were introduced to her as the notorious "this one time, at band camp" girl in "American Pie," she's mostly known for being one of the main cast members in two highly popular television shows: "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "How I Met Your Mother."
In "Buffy," she played the role of Willow Rosenberg, a shy teenage computer geek who grows to become a confident witch with great powers (and not always great responsibility). In "How I Met Your Mother," she played Lily Aldrin, an artistic teacher whose relationship with Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) provides a foil for the perpetually looking-for-love Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor). Because of just how long she was in the spotlight as part of two highly prominent television shows, it may be hard to re-sell Hannigan to moviegoers as a movie star rather than as someone who shines best on television.
While the characters she played on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "How I Met Your Mother" are quite different, they both provide amusing comic relief in their own way. As Willow Rosenberg, Hannigan often offered wry commentary on everything from the state of Buffy's latest relationship to the gender norms that she and girlfriend Tara (Amber Benson) helped redefine.