ABC Eyes 'Modern Family' for Potential Season 11

Will there be an 11th season of Modern Family? Despite the show's co-creators saying they were [...]

Will there be an 11th season of Modern Family? Despite the show's co-creators saying they were looking to wrap up the record-breaking series after 10 seasons, ABC is eyeing the family sitcom for one more season, Deadline reports.

"We have had some conversations with 20th (Century Fox Television). There are conversations ongoing," ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said at TCA on Tuesday. "I think that there is a sense that we all would like to do one more season if we can find a way for a deal that makes sense. This current season is the last season that we have the cast, so if we are to do another season there are more deals to be made, and we are trying to work through all that."

Before the short-lived success of the Roseanne revival, Modern Family remained ABC's highest-rated half-hour series for years. It's been nominated for at least one Emmy Award every year it's been eligible, but this year marked the first time it didn't get a nod for outstanding comedy.

Deadline also reports that while no formal talks have been initiated with actors, producers have approached the cast with an inquiry whether they would be open to another season.

Previously, co-creators Dan Levitan and Christopher Lloyd have said that they "can't imagine" an 11th season.

"Our plan is to end it at 10," Levitan told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year. "If we can leave with most of our audience wanting more, I think that's the right way to do it. Never say never, but I just can't imagine that we'd go past that."

In order to continue into an eleventh season, big name cast members like Ed O'Neill (Jay Pritchett), Sofia Vergara (Gloria Delgado-Pritchett), Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett), Eric Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker) and Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy) would have to be signed to big, new and expensive contracts.

But the five-time best comedy series Emmy winner is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, which will soon become part of Disney, making it a corporate sibling to ABC. The series has a lucrative off-network deal, which makes it beneficial for Disney to pursue another season.

As for how Modern Family will end (if it ever does) — Lloyd, who also produced Frasier throughout the sitcom's duration, said they haven't quite figured that out yet.

"We went through these questions on Frasier, when we brought that around after 11 seasons and sort of said, 'Well, the Shakespearean route on that is a birth, a death or a wedding,' and we managed to effectively do all three in the final episode," Lloyd said in January. "So it may be some conversation that starts there, but we haven't figured out the episode we're doing three weeks from now. It's just a little over a year and a half from now. We've got time to think about that."

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