It's been eight years since the iconic sitcom How I Met Your Mother wrapped its ninth season. The franchise spinoff How I Met Your Father offers a different perspective on the parental mystery. The series follows Sophie (Kim Cattrall), a woman in the future narrating to her son how she met his father. In the present day, younger Sophie (Hilary Duff) is a hopeless romantic whose dating life is a bit of a mess. That all changes when cute and charismatic vice-principal Drew (Josh Peck) enters the picture. Sparks ignite and the two begin dating, offering up one possibility for the mysterious father.
In this week's episode, "Stacey," the pair go on a romantic gateway with Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Hannah (Ashley Reyes). Drew, however, is harboring a secret, one that blows up in his face. Can the pair of lovebirds get past their first quarrel and weather the storm, or will this potential baby daddy be no more? Josh Peck recently spoke to CBR about the highs and lows of dating, identifying with his character Drew and his upcoming musical.
CBR: How I Met Your Father encapsulates the dating experience. How much of that could you relate to?
Josh Peck: In a weird way, Hilary Duff and I -- we are pretty close in age. She has three kiddos and is married. I have one. Chris Lowell had just had a newborn. In many ways, we felt a little bit like we had slightly graduated out of that time in our life, and yet it's just right there. There are so many times where my wife and I will look at each other and say, "Thank God we missed dating apps." On one hand, it seems incredible. It seems like a buffet. On the other hand, as we know about buffets, they are usually not the best. In certain ways, I was like, "Oh. I'm not totally upset that I have been in a relationship the last 10 years."
What were some of the main draws about playing this character, Drew?
To be honest, in this world of sitcoms and half-hour comedies, it's hard to find real characters where you can play them for real. That's how Drew felt for me. It's rare. You are lucky if you get a handful of those parts throughout your career, where you read it on the page and there's a part of you that instinctively knows how to do it.
One of Drew's obvious qualities is his optimism. He comes off super-positive. Is that glass-half-full attitude something you can identify with?
It is, but only after 20 years of heavy therapy. I wish I was kidding. In so many ways, I am completely overpaid. I have a great wife and kid. I've been doing this since I was 12 years old, and here I am, still able to do it and make a living doing roles that challenge me and that I find interesting and exciting. The thing about Drew -- and what I think can be as compelling as playing a beautifully screwed-up character that you can't take your eyes off of -- is in a world where we are all doing our best and we are constantly bombarded by the news and the pandemic and all these different heavy life realities, to watch a character who's really trying to do their best and keep their head up while they are doing it, can be endearing and interesting.
What can you tease about next week's episode, "Stacey," where Drew and Sophie go on a little getaway together?
Next week's episode was certainly my favorite. From my own experience, my friend Phil Lewis directed that episode. There are a lot of twists and turns. When you get into a new relationship, there's this pink cloud of fun and excitement, but you know, just past the horizon, your first fight is coming. I think Sophie and Drew have to face that in this episode in a pretty hilarious way. The rollercoaster of their relationship during this episode is what is super-funny and makes you want to root for them.
Was it also fun to delve more into Drew's baggage and insecurities?
Oh, absolutely. The thing about someone like Drew, or most people like that, is it's always the people who have it the most together where I'm like, "Listen. I know you need a good cry and, when you are ready, I'm here. I'm not going to judge you, but you can't always be a superhero." Right under that surface, a part of you wants to completely melt down, eat a pizza to yourself and watch an excessive amount of Hulu for the next few days and not talk to anybody. Seeing that Drew is a real person, with a real past and an ex-girlfriend, only adds to him.
A lot of viewers are rooting for Drew and Sophie. How does that feel? How convinced are you that Drew could possibly be Sophie's baby daddy?
It's so nice to do something that people like. I'm so used to people going, "I'm not so sure about this one." So having the feedback and seeing people are shipping the two of us is really lovely. The nature of the show -- and I don't think I am speaking out of turn here -- is that it's probable that Sophie is going to have to do some dating before she finds the inevitable father. If, one day, we find out Drew is the dad, I think it would be awesome. I'm sure there will be certain people on the message boards who think it is a travesty.
Netflix's 13: The Musical, based on the Broadway musical, is your next project. What can audiences expect from that?
13: The Musical was originally on Broadway. It was sort of a vehicle that helped to launch people like Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies. The people who loved it loved it, but it didn't get the same amount of notice that some other musicals got. I think people like the director, Tamra Davis, and my good friend Neil Meron, who is the master producer of anything with musicals, they recognized that there was this incredible source material and that it could live in a musical that was filmed and could transcend and be exposed to a much bigger audience. Debra Messing talked about this. When she and I sat there with Rhea Perlman, we watched these kids perform their first number and we were all in tears. It was so moving. The way they have updated the music, the young actors they have chosen… I think people are going to bug out.
Peoples' ears would bleed if I sang. Do you have a musical performance in 13? How would you size up your vocal prowess?
I can sing a little bit, but I don't have any singing numbers in this movie, and I am glad. I am not against it one day, but it will certainly have to be the right thing, in the right key.
Whether it's How I Met Your Father, Turner & Hooch or 13: The Musical, your roles all have a feel-good vibe. As an actor, what's it like to make people smile and escape for a period of time?
Having started as young as I did in the business, it took me a really long time to make my peace with what I have to offer an audience. Naturally, like many people in my 20s, I wanted to rebel against the things that came naturally to me and do things totally out of my wheelhouse and play these complicated characters. While I still love doing stuff like that, at 35 I fully embraced this little bit of superpower that I have to make people laugh and give them a reprieve from whatever is going on in their lives. Hopefully, it allows them to escape a bit, this thing that I am doing. I feel really lucky that my career has gravitated in that direction.
To learn if Josh Peck's Drew is really the father, How I Met Your Father releases new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.