One more for the road! ABC has renewed Modern Family for an 11th and final season, extending the hit sitcom one year after cocreators Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan said season 10 would be the swan song.
ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke announced the news on Tuesday, February 5, at the Television Critics Association press tour, praising Lloyd, 58, and Levitan, 56. “Chris and Steve have created one of the most seminal and iconic comedies in television history,” she said. “In its final season, there will be more milestone events that anyone who has been a fan of the series won’t want to miss.”
The show’s original adult cast — Ed O’Neill, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara — signed deals with producing studio 20th Century Fox TV for a potential 11th season in December. The studio has since reached agreements with Lloyd and Levitan and the original younger actors — Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould and Rico Rodriguez — with some of the deals closing the night before the renewal announcement, according to Deadline.
“For 10 years, our characters have bravely faced turning points in life and moved through them to great personal enrichment; we have chosen a different path by doing one more season of Modern Family,” Lloyd said on Tuesday.
Added Levitan: “Even after 10 years together, we realized there are still some things our writers don’t yet know about each other’s sex lives.”
Bowen, 48, was already waxing nostalgic about the Emmy-winning show in April 2018. “I love my fake children,” she exclusively told Us Weekly, referring to Hyland, 28, Winter, 21, and Gould, 20. “I love them so much. People say, ‘What are you going to do when Modern Family ends?’ And I’m like, ‘What are you going to do when your family ends?’ It’s not going to be easy.”
Modern Family — also starring Aubrey Anderson-Emmons and Jeremy Maguire — airs on ABC Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
