Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet says 'it felt a little hurtful’ when ABC rejected Mitch and Cam spinoff idea

Eric Stonestreet is done mourning his scrapped Modern Family spinoff.

During an in depth interview with Graham Bensinger, the sitcom star addressed the sequel series that never came to be, which would have followed the lives of Cameron (Stonestreet), Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), and their daughter, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), after departing California for Missouri. Despite initially being onboard with the idea, Stonestreet now says the window for the spinoff has closed.

“I don’t think it’s potential anymore,” Stonestreet said of the scrapped project. “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 added that 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.”

The Modern Family sequel would have zoomed in on the Tucker-Pritchett's, after they welcomed baby boy Rexford and moved to Missouri so Cam could follow his dream of becoming a college football coach. Stonestreet believes the series was a surefire path to success. 

“I think it would have been a slam dunk,” he said. “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.”

Though he acknowledged that Modern Family’s other creator, Steven Levitan, was "understandably" concerned about diluting the brand by doing a spinoff just for the sake of it, Stonestreet says that wouldn’t have been the case. 

"We had the right people in place. It would have been great. If ABC would have said ‘Let’s do it,’ I think we’d be on right now,” he argued.

All that said, Stonestreet no longer sees a path forward for the spinoff. "I don’t know how it works anymore, because it’s been so long,” he said, but added that he wouldn’t be opposed to getting the whole Modern Family clan back together for something entirely new. "I wish we’d do a Christmas special.”

Modern Family aired on ABC from 2009 to 2020, spanning 11 seasons with stars Stonestreet, Ferguson, Anderson-Emmons, Sofia Vergara, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Ed O'Neill, and Rico Rodriguez. 

Ferguson also opened up about the potential spinoff during a 2022 conversation with  Entertainment Tonight.

"The script's out there and it's very good," Ferguson said at the time. "So, you know, who knows? If someone wants to produce it, maybe."

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Their TV daughter, Anderson-Emmons, also expressed some interest in the spinoff while speaking with the Daily Mail earlier this year — though she has a few conditions.

“They really haven't said much about anything. But my mom asked me, ‘Would you want to do that?’ and I thought about it,” said the 16-year-old. “I think maybe if it happened, I would [want to] be out of high school. So honestly, that would be fine with me, but I want to stay in high school because I only have less than a year and a half left.”

She added, “I'd definitely be interested if the script was good and the dads were on board, but school is my priority right now — unless something great comes along.”

You can hear Stonestreet’s full thoughts on the potential spinoff above.