Jesse Tyler Ferguson on ‘Modern Family’
Credit: Mario Perez/ABC
Landing a job that lasts over a decade is a blessing for any working actor. That being said, when Modern Family was coming to a close after 11 seasons, Jesse Tyler Ferguson was ready for a change.
“Modern Family ended and then we had a pandemic, you know. I was so excited for this next chapter of my life, and then it was like, everyone go inside,” Ferguson noted while speaking with Reno 911 and St. Denis Medical star Wendi McLendon-Covey on Tuesday’s episode of his Dinner’s On Me podcast.
That frustration of that false start was nothing compared to the bind that lay in store.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet on ‘Modern Family’
Credit: Peter “Hopper” Stone/ABC
“During that time, they were brewing this idea of maybe doing a Modern Family spinoff with [Eric Stonestreet] and I, which I was interested in, but I was also supposed to do this play in New York.”
Sitcom spinoffs like Frasier and Laverne and Shirley have yielded even greater success for the stars shifted from supporting to series star, but Ferguson wasn’t so sure he wanted it — or anything to happen.
“It sort of felt like, as the reality of, maybe the spinoff was actually going to happen, I literally felt like, Oh my god, I want to date other people,” he explained.
Ferguson said that after 11 seasons in the rigidly structured sitcom world, he had to “feel what it’s like to not do that.” And “anyway, it ended up not working out.”
Modern Family came to a close only six years ago, but talk of a reboot, prequel, or spinoff series has haunted the series perhaps more than any other that aired its finale in the COVID era.
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Stonestreet, who played Ferguson’s husband across Modern Family‘s series run, has discussed the undeveloped spinoff centered around their Cameron Tucker (Stonestreet) and Mitchell Pritchett (Ferguson) characters.
“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.'”
Stonestreet said that still, 17 years after the Modern Family premiere, “I love my character. I love the show. I love Jesse,” but believes the powers that be “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.”
You can watch McLendon-Covey’s full interview on Dinner’s On Me above.
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