Modern Family season 11 renewal likely; cast close to new deals

Modern Family season 9

While The Big Bang Theory is going to be ending after 12 seasons this spring, it looks like another long-running comedy in Modern Family could keep going for at least one more season.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, stars Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O’Neill, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara are all in negotiations to reprise their roles at least one more time, and while nothing is official just yet, there are some hopeful signs. One of the biggest ones for a while here has been the Disney – Fox merger; Modern Family is produced by 20th Century Fox TV and when these studios were separate, it made trying to get deals locked in significantly more difficult. However, things are a little bit easier now, mostly due to the fact that there’s a greater sense of cooperation and more money for Disney to potentially make. They don’t have to pay any sort of external licensing fee to Fox anymore. This is why the plan to end the show in season 10, in part, has shifted.

(Note that we firmly expect many of the show’s younger actors to return, provided of course the renewal happens.)

Would a season 11 be the final one? At this point, you never want to say anything definitively, but it does feel like the most probable scenario. If Modern Family does end with season 11, it’s going to wrap things up as one of the most successful and substantial shows of its kind out there. We’re talking here largely about one that has delivered a number of big awards over the years in addition to great ratings for ABC. It’s really anchored an entire comedy lineup for them on Wednesday nights that has drawn a significant amount of viewers to other shows. It’s been an asset to everything from The Middle to The Goldbergs to black-ish. While The Big Bang Theory had better live ratings at its peak, we’d actually argue that ABC built a stronger brand of comedy around Modern Family than CBS did their own hit show.

Of course, a time will come when we wonder more about spin-offs or possible replacements … but that time isn’t just yet, given that there will be opportunities at some point next fall or in early 2020 (provided the show gets renewed) in order to have some more of those conversations. The #1 thing right now is ensuring that this particular show ends in the best possible way, and with a final run of episodes that really feels like it is paying homage to just about everything that the show did right.

What do you think about the idea of a Modern Family season 11, are you still excited to see more of this series on the air? Be sure to share some of your thoughts right now in the comments! (Photo: ABC.)

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