Who does Ted Mosby end up with in How I Met Your Mother? Josh Radnor describes his chemistry with Cobie Smulders as "alchemical and mysterious"

Josh Radnor recently addressed his character Ted Mosby’s chemistry with Cobie Smulders, who portrayed Robin Scherbatsky, on the latest episode of How We Made Your Mother, which aired on April 3, 2025.

Notably, Ted Mosby ends up with Robin Scherbatsky when the show reaches its conclusion. Before Robin, Ted was married to Tracy McConnell.

The new episode of the podcast also featured Alek Lev, who portrayed Todd Epstein in How I Met Your Mother. Alek questioned Josh Radnor on how he developed chemistry with Cobie since people have a lot of doubts about the same. Josh said in his response:

“If you have a conversation about your chemistry, you’re killing the chemistry, like it’s an unspoken thing that you trust. We got cast because we have a thing between us that is alchemical and mysterious and just works when we are on screen together.”

Radnor further stated that he and Smulders always tried to remind themselves that they were acting. Josh mentioned that they additionally attempted to stay true to the characters they were playing on screen and continued:

“I don’t we never once had a talk about it, and I don’t I think that was appropriate. I think that was right. We shouldn’t be talking about that.”

Josh mentioned that he and Cobie would have been approached by someone if their chemistry was not working, adding that it is important for makers to believe that their casting choices were not wrong.

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Plans to add Robin Scherbatsky as the main cast member started after Ted Mosby fell for her

The pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother featured Ted Mosby falling for Robin Scherbatsky, following which the latter became one of the lead cast members in the series.

Creator Craig Thomas, co-host of How We Made Your Mother, explained Robin’s inclusion in the show while speaking in an episode of the podcast on Monday, March 31. Since Robin did not have a very close contact with Ted Mosby’s group of friends, it was not easy for the makers to make Scherbatsky an important part of the sitcom.

Craig said that he and Carter Bays were following the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, where the main character, Jay Gatsby, organized luxurious parties to get the attention of his love interest, Daisy Buchanan. Thomas said that he and Bays tried to create the same situation for their show, and explained by saying:

“I felt like that was part of the idea of these parties. Ted’s gonna throw these parties, and it’s gonna lure in Robin. And that was sort of the little literary spark.”

Craig Thomas disclosed that they first planned for Ted Mosby to organize a “big bash”, adding that he was a little bit worried because it is not easy to write and shoot party sequences.

Thomas mentioned that this was supposed to be a different approach for the show since they won’t jump in time, and the entire episode would have focused on a party. Craig further stated that he was afraid at the same time and addressed the reasons for the same, as he stated:

“We’d, like, lose energy and seem more linear and, you know, like, traditional if we did a party episode in episode two. I remember always, even once we got the idea of chopping up into three parties, I remember I never quite shook the fear that, ‘Ah, this is just gonna be a wacky party episode. How do we make it different?’”

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The CBS series also featured other popular faces among the leads, including Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris. The first episode premiered in 2005, and it was a recipient of multiple accolades at the Golden Globe and Emmy Awards.