Jason Biggs regrets turning down How I Met Your Mother

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

I would assume that every actor working in Hollywood has a major regret about a part they lost out on or turned down. Jason Biggs, known primarily for the American Pie franchise, is the latest actor to discuss those regrets as he reveals he turned down a big TV payday when he was offered the lead role on the hit CBS comedy, How I Met Your Mother.

Biggs was a guest on SiriusXM's "The Covino & Rich Show" and he revealed that he was initially offered the lead role of Ted Mosby, which went on to be played by Josh Radnor. The TV show would've reunited him with his American Pie co-star Alyson Hannigan but he passed because he wasn't ready to tackle a small screen project.

"I was offered the role. It's probably my biggest regret, you know, on passing. I think I was in a phase of, at the time – it sounds so obnoxious to say right now –  but at the time it was like, 'Ok do I want to do TV? I don't know that I was quite ready to go that route."

How I Met Your Mother ran from 2005-2014 and consisted of a staggering 208 episodes. The series followed Ted Mosby (Radnor), and his group of friends in New York City's Manhattan. As a framing device, Ted, in the year 2030, recounts to his son, Luke, and daughter, Penny the events from 2005 to 2013 that led him to meet their mother. The series also starred Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, and Cristin Milioti, while Bob Saget narrated as the older version of Ted telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. Biggs added that "I just thought, well, you know, I don't think it's for me. It was a really cool fun script. I mean it was definitely original and funny and the whole thing." As we all know, How I Met Your Mother blew up and became truly successful. Something that the actor also acknowledges

"I was right for it but yeah I passed on it. And then, two things happened, very soon thereafter, one that show blew up, we all know what happened with that show and two, I was like I want to do TV."

I took a like at Jason Biggs' IMDB filmography to see what films he was doing around the time that How I Met Your Mother started and between 2003-2005, he appeared in American Wedding, Anything Else, & Jersey Girl. Only American Wedding was a hit so I can see why I might've regretted turning down the show to focus on a film career because he did miss out on a series that became a pop-cultural phenomenon. Despite turning down the show, Biggs says that in the grand scheme of things, he's happy about where he has ended up, although he would've accepted the role now if given a do-over:

"Big picture, I have no regrets. I'm very lucky, very fortunate. I'm still here. That's number one. But yeah, if I had to pick out something I wish I had done differently, I would've taken that gig for sure. Absolutely."

Biggs was also asked if he ever talked to Alyson Hannigan about turning down the part and he added, "We've never really talked about it. I don't know that she knows, actually." The interesting thing is I can totally see Jason Biggs playing Ted so it obviously was a role that would've been catered to his strengths. It's not great to live in the land of regret but it must be really hard to not think about what might've been.

Do YOU think Jason Biggs would've made a good Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother?