Josh Radnor Reveals the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Cast Isn’t Tight-Knit
It’s hard to picture Ted Mosby without the company of his close friends Barney, Robin, Lily, and Marshall, but the cast of How I Met Your Mother have evolved beyond their on-screen personas — especially over a decade after the series ended.
Josh Radnor, who portrayed Ted in the cherished CBS sitcom, opened up about his relationships with his former co-stars during the episode of the “Half the Picture” podcast on Sunday, August 16.
When asked if he and co-stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, and Cobie Smulders were still as close as before, he candidly responded, “No. Not even a little bit.”
Radnor, 52, clarified, “I don’t mean that in any dramatic way.”
He mentioned that he had Harris, who played Barney Stinson, on his “How We Made Your Mother” podcast, where they discussed some past tensions they experienced on set that were both intriguing and somewhat therapeutic.
Regarding his friendship with Segel, who played Marshall Eriksen, Radnor shared they “send each other texts occasionally when something reminds us of a funny moment on set.”
“But I haven’t seen him in a really long time,” Radnor added.
Smulders, who played Robin Scherbatsky, has also appeared on Radnor’s podcast twice, leading him to note, “I’ve mostly seen her on Zoom.”
Radnor disclosed that Hannigan, who portrayed Lily Aldrin, attended his wedding to Jordana Jacobs in 2024, “But I don’t think I’ve seen her since then.”
How I Met Your Mother debuted in 2005, chronicling Ted’s unrelenting quest for love alongside his four best friends leading up to the day he first met his future wife. Ted served as the narrator, relaying the story of meeting their mother to his kids, which unfolded over nine seasons until the show concluded in 2014.
While the five main characters shared a tight bond on-screen, Radnor noted during the podcast that, like many relationships, the cast’s dynamics naturally changed once the cameras stopped rolling.
“I have love for all these people,” Radnor expressed on Sunday.
He likened his friendships with the other actors to a college experience “where you have this very intense time together, and you can’t imagine not seeing each other every day because you’ve done so for so long. Then it just disperses and you go live your life.”
Radnor observed that Harris is the only one who resides in New York, while the others are mostly based in California.
Although Radnor mentioned he’s “just living my life,” he understands fans’ disappointment regarding the cast’s diminished closeness.
“I think there’s a yearning, particularly when a show focuses so much on friendship, for people to believe that Neil, Jason, and I are out hitting bars in New York City together,” he elaborated.
However, Radnor characterized the cast dynamic as more family-like than friend-based “in that you don’t get to choose your family.”
He pointed out, “We were cast. We didn’t select each other.”
Radnor concluded, “And family dynamics emerge after spending so long in an environment like that. But you also carry a deep and rich affection that’s probably everlasting.”
While Radnor and the other HIMYM stars have chosen different paths, he affirmed that the show remains significant to him — even after distancing himself from Ted for a while.
“I felt resentment toward those who wouldn’t allow me to escape what felt like an identity prison,” Radnor admitted on the podcast. “Now, after stepping away from it, it feels like a major part of my autobiography but not the entirety of it.”
