Josh Radnor spent nearly a decade portraying the hopeless romantic Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother. However, after the hit sitcom wrapped up in 2014, he found it incredibly challenging to break free from the show’s shadow. While many actors ride the wave of a popular role into similar projects, Radnor took the opposite approach—he was determined to reinvent himself and move in a completely different direction.
In his search for new roles, Radnor became highly selective, carefully evaluating every opportunity to ensure it wasn’t too reminiscent of his lovesick character from HIMYM. He admitted to turning down many offers, deliberately steering clear of projects with a similar tone or premise. Speaking to People, he revealed that for a long time, he simply chose not to act at all.
“In some ways, I always ran things through a bit of a How I Met Your Mother algorithm… Is this far enough away from the tone of the show? I was really looking for roles that just felt really different,” he explained.
Radnor’s post-HIMYM career choices reflected this mindset. Instead of playing another charming, idealistic lead, he made bold moves into darker and more dramatic territory. He starred in the Broadway play Disgraced, a hard-hitting drama about Islamophobia, where he played a morally complex character—far from the endearing professor fans knew him as. He also took on the role of a Civil War surgeon addicted to morphine in PBS’s Mercy Street, further distancing himself from lighthearted sitcom roles.
Even now, Radnor remains highly selective. He acknowledges that while many roles come his way, he can often sense when they are too close to Ted Mosby’s DNA—and when that happens, he turns them down.
“I still, sometimes, get roles that I can feel are a little too close, and I don’t play those roles. I almost always say no,” he admitted.
After years of trying to carve out a separate identity, Radnor has finally come to terms with the impact How I Met Your Mother had on his life. Rather than running from it, he’s choosing to embrace his history with the show. He’s launching a rewatch podcast called How We Made Your Mother, co-hosted by the show’s co-creator Craig Thomas and produced by Alek Lev.
For Radnor, this podcast is a way to make peace with the role that shaped his career.
“It’s tiring to run from such a big part of yourself and your career. I think that part of me doing this is just to almost call a truce with it… It’s given me a lot. It’s taken a lot. I don’t want to be at odds with it anymore.”
Through this project, he hopes to revisit the show with fresh eyes, reflecting on both the opportunities and challenges it brought him. He believes that taking a deep dive into the series at this point in his life might even be therapeutic.
“I think there’s something psychologically healthy about re-engaging with it at this age,” he said.
Fans eager to hear Radnor’s behind-the-scenes insights won’t have to wait long—his podcast debuts on March 10. Meanwhile, How I Met Your Mother continues to entertain audiences and remains available for streaming on Hulu and Netflix.