‘Modern Family’ Star Julie Bowen Optimistic About an 11th Season for Hit Sitcom

As we inch closer to Christmas, fans of Modern Family are hoping the man in the red suit will wrap an 11th season up in a big shiny bow to leave under the tree for all to enjoy in fall of 2019. This wish doesn’t seem far-fetched, considering Julie Bowen — who plays Claire Dunphy on the hit comedy series — said she has a “very positive feelings” about the diverse and hilarious family heading into a second decade.

According to Deadline, Bowen shared the exciting news with E!’s Busy Tonight saying, “I think that there is [another season], I’ve been told that there is, you know? The ink is not dry, but I have very positive feelings about it.”

Earlier this month, reports of the cast being in the final stages of inking a new deal with ABC were rampant. At that time, it was also reported that there were issues with contracts; however, Bowen, Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara are all expected to return if a new season is set in place.

In addition, the studio has reportedly held preliminary conversations with Sarah Hyland (Haley Dunphy), Ariel Winter (Alex Dunphy), Nolan Gould (Luke Dunphy) and Rico Rodriguez (Manny Delgado). It appeared that all of the young adult actors saw big raises the last time their contracts were renewed, and all seem interested in keeping their characters in action.

In October, co-creator and co-showrunner, Steve Levitan, shared his interest in wanting to move the show forward.

“There’s definitely interest from the studio and network and we’re all trying to figure out if that’s what we want to do,” he said. “There’s a general desire from just about everybody involved to not say goodbye yet. There are a couple hurdles that have to be climbed. We’ll see if it all comes together.”

Levitan added that if they were going to continue the series, he wanted it to make sense for everyone involved.

“It’s the cast and making sure we have the right stories and can put together and bring back most of our writers that have been with us for so long,” he explained. “And that it still makes sense financially for everybody. Part of that consideration is us taking a hard look at if we have anything to say next year or will we start repeating ourselves. Hopefully there will be a few developments this year that give us new places to go should we decide to continue on.”

The comedy surged into a smash after winning its first of five consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2009. Despite missing the top 20 in the final demo rankings that season, it bounced up to the top five in 2010-11 and stayed at the top through 2015-16. They finished 21st among 18-49 in Season 10 and hit a season high in the demo last week.

If an 11th season happens, and things do look promising, enjoy every bit of it because it could be their last.