Modern Family‘s Eric Stonestreet has said he conceived a spin-off idea for the show that got shot down and will likely never materialise.
Stonestreet’s idea would have followed the lives of Cameron (Stonestreet), Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), and their daughter, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), after leaving California for Missouri.
However, the sitcom star has suggested that the window of opportunity for the spin-off has now passed.
“I don’t think it’s potential anymore,” Stonestreet said in an in-depth interview with Graham Bensinger. “They had their chance. [Series co-creator] Chris Lloyd and a couple of the writers wrote a really great script that spun Jesse and I off in our life in Missouri, and they said, ‘No.’ They just said, ‘We don’t want to do it.’”
This decision ultimately led to “hurt” feelings for Ferguson, Lloyd, and himself.
“I love my character. I love the show. I love Jesse. We had a great working relationship, we had amazing chemistry,” he continued. “I think Jesse and I maybe felt like they thought of us as the old guys, or something like that, that didn’t seem worthy of keeping those characters going. It felt a little hurtful. But people make business decisions.
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“I think it would have been a slam dunk,” he continued. “I don’t think it would have not been successful. Because you had one of the creators — who had really taken such great care of making sure that show was great for so long — willing to do it.
He continued: “I don’t know how it works anymore, because it’s been so long. I wish we’d do a Christmas special.”
Altogether, 11 seasons of the show were made, which aired between 2009 and 2020.
Last month, Sofia Vergara also backed calls for a reunion, saying she would be open to doing a Modern Family movie, but only as long as co-star Ed O’Neill “doesn’t die”.