Josh Radnor Says He Tried to Find 'Really Different' Roles to Distance Himself from “HIMYM” 'for a Long Time' (Exclusive)

Ted Mosby will always be a part of Josh Radnor.

The How I Met Your Mother lead, 50, served as the show's protagonist for nine seasons from 2005 to 2014. Naturally, fans have continued to associate Radnor with the love-struck character in the years since the CBS sitcom wrapped.

Because of that, the actor-musician was very cautious with the roles he agreed to take post-show.

"In some ways, I always ran things through a bit of a How I Met Your Mother algorithm in terms of, is this far enough away from the tone of the show. I was really looking for roles that just felt really different," he tells PEOPLE exclusively, noting that he did this "for a long time."

Related: How I Met Your Mother Co-Creator Reveals the Real Reason Josh Radnor Never Appeared on the Spinoff (Exclusive)

"My first job, my first gig outside of How I Met Your Mother was this Broadway play called Disgraced, and it was about Islamophobia. And I played this pretty ethically shady character," he continues. "And then, I was on this PBS Civil War show called Mercy Street, where I was a morphine-addicted Civil War surgeon. So I was really looking for roles that were not lovesick guys in New York City looking for wives."

"That was something I didn't want to do. And I still, sometimes roles will come to me that I can feel in the DNA, that it's a little too close, and I don't play those roles. I almost always say no to those roles," he adds.

Radnor, though, is now ready to embrace his How I Met Your Mother roots as he prepares to launch a rewatch podcast produced by Alek Lev, titled How We Made Your Mother. He will co-host the endeavor with series co-creator Craig Thomas.

"It's tiring to run from such a big part of yourself and your career," he explains. "I think that part of me doing this [rewatch podcast] is just to almost call a truce with it and say like, 'All right, you've given me a lot. You've taken a lot from me. I don't want to be at odds with you, so let's just turn around and see.' I think there's something that will be psychologically healthy for me about it, to re-engage at this age."

Radnor is excited about the opportunity to revisit his past. "I'm a little bit mystified by the fervor it inspires in its fans," he shares.

"I just wanted to revisit it with Craig all these years later and walk through it again with some older, wiser eyes with my friend and talk to other people and hear from fans and just create," he says. "All success has some shadow woven into it. Anyone will tell you that. So, I've had to navigate a lot of things that came with the show, a lot of blessings, a lot of other kinds of stuff that was harder to navigate."

Related: Josh Radnor Teams Up with HIMYM Co-Creator Craig Thomas for Legendary New Rewatch Podcast (Exclusive)

"I just thought, 'Well, why don't I work through some of this with my friends who were there who had a different role in the creation of it?'" he continues. "I'm always looking for things that feel a little bit scary, but mostly fun that I can do with friends or people that I really love and trust. This just felt like an opportunity to do that."

Additionally, Radnor will be able to insert a bit of himself into the new podcast, as he tells PEOPLE how they're "actually using 'NYC' as the theme song for the podcast," referencing a track from his Eulogy, Vol. I album.

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How We Made Your Mother will debut on March 10 everywhere podcasts are streamed. In the meantime, all nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother can be streamed on Hulu and Netflix.

Read the original article on People