Yes, Merrill from ‘Friends from College’ Is Stella from ‘HIMYM’

If you’ve grown up in front of the TV, then Friends from College is absolutely packed with familiar faces. There’s Fred Savage from The Wonder Years, all grown up and playing literary agent Max. There’s Greg Germann, who Ally McBeal fans will definitely recognize from his time as the waddle-obsessed Richard Fish. If you’re into cable comedy shows, you definitely recognize Keegan-Michael Key from his Comedy Central sketch show Key & Peele and Billy Eichner from his pop culture experience Billy On the Street. And of course there’s Cobie Smulders, known for her leading role on How I Met Your Mother and–if you’re me–playing stone-cold badass Maria Hill in the Marvel movies.

When you’re casting new characters on Friends from College, this familiarity is definitely a factor. That’s partly why Sarah Chalke is perfect as Merrill Morgan. Where do you recognize Sarah Chalke from? Howsabout, like, a ton of hit TV shows?

Wasn’t Sarah Chalke Becky on Roseanne?

Yep! Many people first encountered Chalke as the second Becky, brought on to Roseanne when original Becky (Lecy Goranson) went away to college. Goranson and Chalke even split the role for a few seasons, bouncing back and forth, which is super rare–possibly unprecedented–in TV history.

Wasn’t Sarah Chalke Dr. Elliot on Scrubs?

Yep! A few years after wrapping on Roseanne, Chalke got to originate a sitcom character of her own on the offbeat medical comedy Scrubs. She stayed with the show for 8 of its 9 seasons.

Wasn’t Sarah Chalke Stella on How I Met Your Mother?

Yep! Towards the end of Scrubs, Chalke started a recurring role on HIMYM as Stella Zinman, a dermatologist that almost marries Ted. She popped up in 10 episodes throughout that series, even appearing in the final season.

Wait, wasn’t Sarah Chalke on The Conners, too?

Yep! When Roseanne came back for a revival season, they created a totally new character for Chalke to play since Goranson came back full-time as Becky. Goranson played Andrea, a woman looking for a surrogate to carry her child. That plotline ended, but Chalke still came back for a guest spot on the spinoff The Conners.

That takes us up to the present, where Chalke currently plays Merrill Morgan on Friends from College.

Who is Merrill Morgan on Friends from College? 

Merrill Morgan is introduced in the Season 2 premiere episode, which takes place at Max and Felix’s engagement party. She too is a Harvard graduate and was friends with Max way back in the day. Of course, Merrill Morgan wasn’t exactly in their friend group. She was a step above all of them socially, so much so that she doesn’t even remember any of them other than Max and Nick (Nat Faxon), who she’s currently dating.

When we talked to Friends from College co-creator Francesca Delbanco, she explained their though process behind bringing in Sarah Chalke as someone that’s part of the Friends from College world while also being above it.

“Not everybody feels, necessarily, like they would’ve gone to college with these guys. That’s fun in shooting, because some of these people have to be insiders. Like Sarah Chalke’s character went to college with the rest of them, but was ‘cooler’ than they were in college. I mean, 25 years later, I’ll see someone who was cooler than I was in college and instantly go back to my teenage kind of fawning, desperate self. ‘You remember my name?'”

This being Friends from College, things don’t exactly go well for Merrill Morgan–but those are spoilers!

Stream Friends from College Season 2 on Netflix