‘Modern Family’: Ariel Winter Hints at Starring in Possible Spin-Off

ABC’s Modern Family might be coming to an end in May 2020, but that does not mean the adventures of the Dunphy and Pritchett family are over. In a new interview Friday, Ariel Winter said she would be open to making a series following the further adventures of her character, middle child Alex Dunphy. Winter’s comments come even as the actress began pursuing her dreams of taking on dramatic projects, like her recent appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

“I haven’t heard much about them actually thinking about a spinoff,” Winter told E! News this week. “I’m never going to say absolutely not to something…if it got presented to me or anybody, I’m sure we’d definitely think about it. We’d never be absolutely not, we wouldn’t do that…nobody’s come to me, I should say that.”

Winter is not the first castmember to tease interest in a spin-off. In September, Nolan Gould, who plays Alex’s younger brother Luke, told PopCulture.com he would definitely be interested in playing his character again.

“I’m one hundred percent on board for a spinoff or a reboot or anything,” Gould explained. “I love this show, and honestly I could see myself doing this for the rest of my life.”

ABC has also expressed interest in keeping the show alive in some way. In August, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke told Deadline one possible option could be a series centering on Sarah Hyland’s Hayley Dunphy and Dylan Marshall’s Reid Ewing. Then again, she also mentioned she would let the Modern Family producers finish their final season before pressing for another idea.

“I’m going to stay quiet for a little while,” Burke said. “They’ve just started production on the final season — I was at the first table read last week, which was so great, and I’m going to let them focus on that.”

It would be difficult for Hyland to do a Modern Family spinoff, since she already signed on for another project. In August, she signed on to star in a project created by Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick) that will be inspired by both Gordon and Hyland’s lives.

As for Winter, she hopes her future includes more drama projects.

“Absolutely. Yeah, I think that’s something I would like to focus on,” Winter told E! News. “I love comedy, I think it’s great, but I want to do something completely different and I do think drama challenges me more. Comedy is a challenge as well, but I’ve been doing it for so long I want to challenge myself to be better at what I’m not currently doing, what I haven’t been much of recently. That’s something I would like to get in on, is focusing on drama.”

On Thursday, Winter appeared in the SVU episode “The Darkest Journey Home,” in which she played a woman raped after taking a ride-share home.

Modern Family airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC/Jill Greenberg