Jesse Tyler Ferguson Says 'There Were Discussions' About a Modern Family Spin-Off but ABC Passed

Those hoping for a Modern Family spin-off centered around Mitchell and Cam should set their sights elsewhere.

During an appearance on Sunday's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson — who played Mitchell opposite Eric Stonestreet's Cam — revealed that ABC considered a spinoff about their characters, but ultimately passed.

"There were discussions," Ferguson, 46, said. "I think the network decided against it. That's the first time I've ever said that."

Modern Family's season finale, which aired in April 2020, seemed to set up the potential spinoff. As Cohen explained on WWHL, the show would have followed married pair Mitchell and Cam, their daughter Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) and their new baby as they started a new chapter of their life in Missouri — where they moved after Cam accepted a position as a University-level football coach, something that had been a lifelong dream of his.

As for why ABC decided to forgo the series, Ferguson — who received a Tony nomination this week for his role in Broadway's Take Me Out revival — said it likely had to do with the Modern Family legacy.

"I think they just wondering if this is the right family to tell this story," he said. "I think they were — you know, we'd been on for 11 years and I think they were ready to move in a different direction."

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Kevin Winter/Getty Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson

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Modern Family aired for 11 seasons on ABC from 2009 to 2020, and won a total of 22 Emmy awards, five of them for outstanding comedy series. The show — which followed the lives of three diverse family set-ups in suburban Los Angeles — also stared Ed O'Neill, Sofía Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez and more.

All have stayed in touch since the series ending, Ferguson telling Cohen that all are on

"The most active texter is probably Eric Stonestreet," Ferguson said, adding, "and the least active is probably Ed O'Neill who replies two days later with like, 'What's up? What's happening?' "

Ferguson went on to say on the Bravo late night show that he took home a painting and "a lot of Mitchell's clothes" when Modern Family wrapped.

He also questioned whether the show ever "jumped the shark," a phrased coined from a 1977 episode of Happy Days that's used to signify when a long-running show tries out far-fetched ideas during a state of quality decline.

"Did we jump the shark?" he said. "I don't know. Maybe when we went to Paris."

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BOB D'AMICO/ABC

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And while the conversation with Cohen was the first Ferguson spoke of the axed spinoff, Stonestreet, 50, mentioned the dropped idea in an October conversation with PEOPLE.

"I think there was an opportunity for a spinoff," Stonestreet said. "But I think that window closed."

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen airs Sunday-Thursday nights on Bravo.