Alyson Hannigan’s Willow Rosenberg grew from Buffy’s shy best friend into one of television’s most memorable witches.
For another generation, she is Lily Aldrin from How I Met Your Mother. Since those long-running series, Hannigan has worked in family films, animation and unscripted television, and reached the Dancing with the Stars final in 2023.
Her recent screen work includes the 2026 romantic comedy Solo Mio, in which she plays Meghan alongside Kevin James. She remains an actress, even if audiences now encounter her through a different mixture of projects than the weekly sitcom schedule that once defined her career.
Willow, Michelle and Lily created three lasting audiences
Hannigan played Willow across Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s seven-season run from 1997 to 2003. The character’s movement from school outsider to powerful witch gave her material that could turn from awkward comedy to grief and danger.
At the same time, American Pie introduced her as Michelle in 1999. She returned to the character in later films, including American Reunion in 2012.
In a 2012 interview with Assignment X, Hannigan discussed moving between Michelle and Lily while her own family life was changing. The interview captured how those roles overlapped rather than neatly replacing one another.
How I Met Your Mother, which ran from 2005 to 2014, gave her another sustained place in viewers’ lives. Lily’s relationship with Jason Segel’s Marshall formed one of the comedy’s central partnerships, alongside the search for the mother in its title.
The result was an unusually recognizable trio of characters. Someone remembering only one of them may have missed an entire other phase of Hannigan’s work.
Hosting brought a different kind of television work
After her sitcom years, Hannigan became the host of Penn & Teller: Fool Us. She joined in its third season, welcoming magicians attempting to perform tricks that the celebrated duo could not explain.
The job placed her beside the performers as herself. Instead of delivering a character’s reactions, she helped guide an entertainment format built around suspense, technical skill and surprise.
Her hosting tenure is now a past credit. Brooke Burke took over for season 10, a change documented in TV Series Finale’s 2023 reporting.
Older clips and repeat broadcasts can make television timelines confusing. Hannigan’s years on the show remain available to viewers, but their continued circulation does not mean she is its current host.
It is another example of how the work of a familiar television performer can change form, as Jenna Fischer’s move into podcasting after The Office also illustrates.
Disney projects introduced her to younger viewers
Hannigan’s later credits include work aimed at children and families. She voiced Nancy’s mother, Claire Clancy, in Fancy Nancy, the Disney Junior series that began in July 2018.
Disney’s D23 guide describes a show built around a six-year-old’s imagination, elaborate vocabulary and enthusiasm for making ordinary life feel special. Voice acting let Hannigan contribute to that world without appearing on camera.
She also played Dr. Ann Possible in the live-action Kim Possible. Entertainment Tonight’s casting report identified her as the teenage heroine’s mother.
In Flora & Ulysses, released in February 2021, she played Phyllis, a romance novelist and mother to Matilda Lawler’s Flora. Disney’s production announcement pairs her with Ben Schwartz as Flora’s estranged father.
The story follows a child who rescues a squirrel with extraordinary powers. That premise places Hannigan’s familiar comic warmth inside a family adventure, far from the adult humor of American Pie.
Dancing with the Stars became a personal challenge
In 2023, Hannigan joined season 32 of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Sasha Farber. They reached the final and finished fifth.
The placement tells only part of what the experience meant to her. Afterward, she credited Farber with helping her regain confidence and move past insecurities, according to Good Morning America.
She said she had initially approached the competition with “mostly fear.” By its end, she was expressing gratitude for what the training and performances had given her.
For viewers accustomed to seeing her as an experienced comic performer, the ballroom offered something different: a well-known actor learning a new skill in public. Her progress could be followed week by week, without the protection of a fictional character.
Solo Mio added a new film in 2026
Hannigan’s recent acting résumé includes Solo Mio, released in theaters on February 6, 2026. Distributor Angel’s official page identifies her character as Meghan and lists Kevin James, Nicole Grimaudo, Kim Coates and Jonathan Roumie among the cast.
The story begins with James’s character stranded in Rome after a wedding disaster. Local help and encounters with vacationing couples turn his abandoned honeymoon into an unexpected adventure.
Directed by Charles and Daniel Kinnane, the film gives Hannigan another ensemble comedy credit. Angel now lists the movie as streaming for its Guild members.
That release provides a straightforward answer for anyone wondering whether she still acts. Her work has continued beyond her best-known series, even when it is no longer attached to the same weekly role.
Her earlier characters remain part of the conversation
Hannigan still encounters the affection attached to Buffy, American Pie and How I Met Your Mother. Their continued visibility can make her career feel frozen in several different periods at once.
Yet the intervening credits tell a more varied story: hosting, voice work, family adventures, a dance competition and another feature comedy. Like Jennifer Coolidge’s enduring connection to American Pie alongside later roles, a famous early character is only one part of the record.
Hannigan’s latest chapter does not require a dramatic comeback narrative. Solo Mio is a recent film audiences can watch, and the television work between Lily Aldrin and Meghan shows how much she has done along the way.