‘Modern Family’ Crew Talk Final Season & Potential Spinoffs – TCA

Amanda N'Duka

The cast and creator of ABC’s long-running series Modern Family made a stop at the winter TCA press tour to reflect on the final season and on what’s to come in the future. The big question with any successful series is, of course, about potential spinoffs.

Executive producer Steven Levitan didn’t completely dismiss the possibility, “The short answer is right now there are no plans,” he said.

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Levitan was joined on stage by the cast which included Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, Jeremy Maguire and Reid Ewing. Ed O’Neill was absent due to illness.

While many doors have opened for the cast thanks to the show’s success, all expressed interest in revisiting their characters. “Is the spinoff as good as Modern Family? Do we get to have the amazing writers? Do we get to have the amazing cast? The incredible hours? Do I get to work in L.A. and see my kids? Then yeah,” said Bowen.

When mapping out the final season, Levitan shared, “we didn’t really know from an early point. It sort of depended on which season we ended it on. Had we ended it last season, it would have probably revolved around the birth of the new babies. But we went past that point. We were in uncharted territory. It’s something we have been thinking about for a year and a half once we knew we were going into season 11.

Levitan remained mum on any teasers on what’s to come in the last season but later told reporters that he hoped it would be “emotionally satisfying.”

Reflecting on why the show survived in the era of Peak TV, “It’s an incredible alchemy of elements coming together. It’s a rare thing,” opined Levitan.

“It just so rarely happens that the right characters are created and the right actors come along to play those characters. The right writers to help bring those characters to life and further deepen those relationships. The time was right. To me it’s not a coincidence that Modern Family, the majority of the show existed at a time where things felt a little happier in the world.”

He continued, “it’s a cliche that you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone but it’s absolutely not the case here… We just knew it from the beginning. We all dug in and appreciated it,” he said. “We all know how lucky we’ve been from day one and so many of us have been trying to hang on to it and embrace this experience while an experience like this can exist.”

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