'Modern Family' season 11: Release date, plot, cast, trailer and everything else you need to know about the ABC comedy
Fan-favorite family comedy - Modern Family is getting renewed for its 11th and final season in 2019-20. The 20th Century Fox Television series has been the anchor of ABC’s primetime schedule since its premiere in 2009.
Created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, the domestic comedy revolving around an extended family has won five consecutive Emmy Awards for best comedy series from 2010 to 2014. The show and its stars have picked up countless other awards, from Peabody honors to SAG, DGA, WGA and PGA recognitions. 'Modern Family' has been credited as groundbreaking for primetime in its portrayal of a gay couple Mitchell and Cameron — as stable, loving and parents of a precocious girl. It also examined the concerns of blended families — as represented by Jay, Gloria and Manny — and the trials and tribulations of a traditional family with three kids, represented by Phil, Claire and siblings Haley, Alex and Luke.
“Chris and Steve have created one of the most seminal and iconic comedies in television history,” said Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment. “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.” Levitan emphasized that their main focus is to end strong, telling THR “We want to honor the show and honor it in the right way, making the audience really feel like that was a journey worth taking from beginning to end, but there will be buckets of tears as we get there.”
Release date
The season will premiere on September 25, 2019 with its Wednesday 9 p.m. slot
Plot
Now that Haley has had her twins, Levitan acknowledges that one aspect of season 11 will focus on the addition to the Pritchett-Dunphy clan. Levitan extrapolated on this anticipated plot point when speaking to THR, stating: “One of the arcs for next season will just be Dylan, Haley and these two new babies living in the Dunphy house, and how it affects that household and everybody in it. We will keep her working so that it’s not easy and everybody has to help out a little bit. So that’s a good place to start, that there’s going to be literally some new life into that house. We have a couple of other ideas for the other two households as well. That’s how we start it, and then we had to begin aiming toward in what we think our ending might be.”
"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.
Cast
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson currently stars as Mitchell Pritchett.
Ferguson has also received five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and three People's Choice Award nominations for 'Favorite Comedic TV Actor' on behalf of Modern Family. His additional television credits include 'Do Not Disturb' and 'Ugly Betty'. Film credits include 'Untraceable' and 'Wonderful World'. A longstanding advocate for marriage equality, Ferguson co-founded 'Tie The Knot' in 2012 with his husband, where they design limited edition bow ties with all the proceeds going to various organizations that fight for civil rights for gay and lesbian Americans.
Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet stars as Cameron Tucker on ABC's comedy series, 'Modern Family', a role in which he earned two Emmy Awards in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category, in 2010 and 2012. Stonestreet also garnered a 2011 Emmy Nomination, Golden Globe Nominations in 2011, 2012 and 2013, Screen Actors Guild Nominations in 2012, 2013 and 2015, and a TCA Award nomination for his portrayal.
He is known for his work in commercials and also some other comedies like 'Bad Teacher', 'Dharma & Greg', 'Malcolm in the Middle', 'Party of Five', 'Spin City', 'ER', 'The West Wing', 'American Dad', 'Providence', 'Close to Home', 'Crossing Jordan' and 'Bones'. His most notable character is from his recurring role as Ronnie Litre, the questionable documents technician on the original 'CSI'. Stonestreet was also a series regular on the Fox pilot '13 Graves' and has guest starred in 'The Mentalist', 'N.C.I.S.' and 'Pushing Daisies'.
Ed O’Neill
Ed O'Neill's starring role as the patriarch Jay Pritchett on 'Modern Family' has garnered him three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
He has appeared in a number of movies, including 'The Bone Collector', 'Little Giants', 'Dutch', 'Wayne's World', 'Finding Dory', 'Sun Dogs', and several films for Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter David Mamet including 'The Spanish Prisoner', 'Spartan' and the indie film 'Redbelt'. His television credits include the long-running sitcom 'Married with Children', 'Dragnet', 'The West Wing', 'Big Apple' and John from 'Cincinnati'. O'Neill also had stints on Broadway, starring in the productions 'Lakeboat' and 'Keep Your Pantheon'.
Sofia Vergara
She plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family.
She debuted in the Broadway production of Chicago as 'Mama Morton'. Vergara recently starred in 'Hot Pursuit', for Warner Bros Studios, in John Turturro's 'Fading Gigolo', as well as co-starring in Open Road Films Chef Simon West's '-Wild Card', Disney's comedy 'Big Trouble', 'Smurfs', 'Happy Feet 2', 'New Year's Eve', 'Four Brothers' and Tyler Perry's box office sensations 'Meet the Browns' and 'Madea Goes to Jail'.
Rico Rodriguez
Rodriguez has garnered widespread attention for his work in the role of "precocious, old soul" Manny Delgado.
He received the Impact Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, as well as being nominated as Male Breakout Star for the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. He got to record his first-ever leading role as Cuco in the animated feature film 'Americano'. Rodriguez's television credits include co-starring as Young Guillermo on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', 'Cory in the House', 'ER', 'Til Death', 'iCarly', 'Nip/Tuck', 'Surviving Suburbia' and 'NCIS'.
Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell plays the role of Phil Dunphy.
Burrell won the Emmy Award for 'Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series' ( 2014, 2011) and has been nominated three other times in the same category, Screen Actors Guild Award for 'Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series' (2014). Burrell has lent his voice to the Disney/Pixar's 'Finding Dory' where he voiced a whale named Bailey and also voiced the lead role of 'Mr. Peabody' in the DreamWorks Animation 3D feature 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman'. He also starred in ' Muppets Most Wanted'. His film credits include The Weinstein Company's 'Butter'; Roger Michel's Morning 'Glory'; Universal's 'The Incredible Hulk' ; 'National Treasure 2' ; Steven Shainberg's 'Fur' ; Nicole Holofcener's 'Friends with Money' ; Finn Taylor's romantic comedy 'The Darwin Awards'; David Jacobson's 'Down in the Valley' ; the Weitz brothers' 'In Good Company'; Ridley Scott's 'Black Hawk Down'; 'Dawn of the Dead' and Ivan Reitman's 'Evolution'.
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen plays Claire Dunphy - the daughter of Jay Pritchett and mom to Haley, Alex and Luke. She is married to Phil (Ty Burrell).
Before Modern Family, the two-time Emmy Award winner spent four seasons as Carol Vessey on NBC series 'Ed'. Bowen then joined James Spader and William Shatner for two seasons on ABC's 'Boston Legal'. Other television credits include recurring roles on the hit ABC series 'Lost' and the darkly comedic Showtime series, 'Weeds'.
Sarah Hyland
Sarah Hyland plays the role of Haley Dunphy.
She made her official Broadway debut in a production of 'Grey Gardens'. Hyland's numerous television appearances include reoccurring roles on the daytime soap opera ABC's 'One Life to Live', NBC's 'Lipstick Jungle', and guest-starring roles on NBC's 'Law & Order', NBC's 'Law & Order: SVU', and TV Land's 'Hot in Cleveland', 'Bonnie and Clyde: Dead and Alive', and a four-part TV mini-series for Lifetime/History Channel as 'Blanche Barrow.' Hyland's film roles date back to 1997 when she got her start as Howard Stern's daughter in the comedy 'Private Parts' and later went on to star in 'Struck by Lightning', Lifetime original movie 'Call Me Crazy' and the Weinstein film 'Vampire Academy'. She played the role of 'Grace' whose character explores bipolar disorder through the experience of a teenage daughter whose mother grapples with the condition.
Hyland has been nominated for a 2012 TV Scene Stealer and 2010 Breakout Talent at the Teen Choice Awards. Her charitable causes include being a Youth Ambassador for The Lopez Foundation as well as Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign (spearheaded by actor Jeff Bridges).
Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter plays Alex Dunphy, the brainy middle child in the Dunphy family. Winter recently shared that it is hard for her to bid goodbye to the show, but is looking forward to playing new roles. She explains, "Alex is a great character but Alex doesn't change a ton... I was a kid as Alex on the show and now I'm an adult as Alex, so it's a little different than the roles I want to play. I don't want to play kid to adult. I want to just play my age now."
Winter began her film career at age seven in director Shane Black's hit cult film, 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', also starred on Disney Jr. as the title character for the series 'Sofia the First'. Ariel gave life to the voice of Penny Peterson in the animated film, 'Mr Peabody & Sherman'. She also voiced characters in 'Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred' and the sequel 'Fred the Movie' on Nickelodeon and boasts of a recurring role in the final six episodes of the award-winning drama 'ER' along with guest-starring roles on hit TV shows 'Criminal Minds', 'Crossing Jordan', 'Nip/Tuck' and 'Bones'. Winter also voiced 'Marina the Mermaid' in the animated series, 'Jake and Neverland Pirates' for Disney Junior, 'Gretchen' on Walt Disney's hit show 'Phineas and Ferb' on Disney Channel, and has voiced characters in the hit animated film, 'Horton Hears a Who' and 'Bambi II'.
Nolan Gould
Nolan Gould plays the role of Luke Dunphy. Nolan, who has spent almost half his life playing the role of Luke on the hit show, expressed feeling "strange" about moving on from the series. He also said that while he’s sad to leave Modern Family behind, he’s “looking forward to the future” and that he will always remain close with his TV family. However, he also shared that he loved being a part of this show, and is one hundred percent open to being a part of the spinoff, reboot, or anything related to the show. In another interview, he described his character Luke's transition over the years as, “My character Luke has changed a lot. There was this time where he was just like, an uncomfortable, awkward teenage boy who does creepy things and how these last couple seasons he kind of transitions into becoming an adult and then going off to college. [But] excited to see what happens. It’s always been crazy because every year it’s like playing a new character because he changes so much.”
His television credits include 'Ghoul', and the live-action Hub Original Series R. L. Stine's 'The Haunting Hour', Ellen Degeneres' hot game show 'Heads Up' , 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', 'Camp', a one-hour digital special produced by James Franco and Joey King, 'Field of Lost Shoes', 'The To-Do List' and 'Friends With Benefits'.
Aubrey Anderson-Emmers
Aubrey Anderson–Emmons made history at the age of four by becoming the youngest ever nominee and recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance as Lily Tucker-Pritchett on the hit show Modern Family. Now, at the tender age of 11, she is entering her eighth year as a series regular, where she has increased cultural diversity awareness as an Asian American playing a trans-racial adoptee of gay parents.
Jeremy Maguire
Jeremy Maguire currently stars as Joe Pritchett in ABC's comedy Modern Family. Maguire can also be seen in his role as Trevor in the drama-filled film 'I'm Not Here'.
Creators
Steven Levitan
He is a producer and writer, known for 'Modern Family' (2009), 'Just Shoot Me!' (1997) and 'Stark Raving Mad' (1999).
Speaking of the show, "I thought season 10 was going to be it. I think everyone has said season 11 is it. If we were to do it, season 11 would be it, for sure. And I'm not sure it would be a full season. We're all trying to figure that out," he told THR in October.
Christopher Lloyd
He is a producer and writer, known for 'Modern Family' (2009), 'Frasier' (1993) and 'Flushed Away' (2006).
Trailer
News
Jesse Tyler recently expressed his sadness over the upcoming finale of The Modern Family series. He also shared that "many exciting things" are in store for the Pritchett family in the upcoming season.
Where to watch
The show will air during the 2019-2020 fall schedule with its Wednesday 9 p.m. slot on the ABC network channel.
Season 10 recap
The final episode of season 10 followed a year in the Pritchett-Dunphy family as told through each family member's birthday, culminating in the birth of Haley's (Sarah Hyland) twins — adding a new generation to the clan.
If you liked this, you'll love these:
Black-ish
Fresh off the Boat
The Middle
Kim's Convenience