Will ‘Modern Family’ return with Season 12 as finale ending hints? Here’s what porch light at Dunphy’s means

Although it was long-predicted that each of the Pritchett, Dunphy and Tucker households would go different directions towards the end of ‘Modern Family’ Season 11, one of the aspects from the last few minutes of the finale has us wondering if the show would indeed return with a new season.

The closing scene saw the porch light at all the three houses go off until the one at Dunphy residence comes back to life. Does that mean the makers of ‘Modern Family’ are planning on taking the Dunphy’s story arc forward? 

As seen in the finale, Haley (Sarah Hyland), Alex (Ariel Winter) and Luke Dunphy (Nolan Gould) move out of their parents’, leaving Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) as empty nesters. The same factor also gives rise to numerous possibilities as each of the Dunphy’s children will now navigate life on their own, thus making for a new plotline. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, when the creator of ‘Modern Family’ Christopher Lloyd was asked to address the significance of the light on the porch at only one of the households and what it means to the future of the characters, he had a rather intriguing response to share. 

“The intention of that image was more to make people imagine that the family will reunite. That's a lovely thing people have in their lives when they move on, that there’s a home base, and that you can come back to that base. To even just know that that light is on can do wonders for you wherever you are in the world.”

Is that indicative of the making of yet another season? Well, to this, he responded, “Not necessarily, no. It was much more that these characters will live on in our audience's mind. And I think the audience probably will think a little bit about, 'Oh, they probably are going to be around a table at Thanksgiving or Christmas or for family weddings and whatnot,' and the porch light reinforces that.”

It certainly seems like there’s no question of ‘Modern Family’ being renewed for another season. But Lloyd went on to tease the possibility of a spin-off series for the hit sitcom, which might be presented to us in a year from now. He also hinted that a couple of old characters “from the show perhaps drop in.” Read here to know more!