Ty Burrell Talks Possible ‘Modern Family’ Reunion, Why Playing Phil Dunphy Was Special, and New Travel Partnership (Exclusive)

Modern Family fans have missed Ty Burrell! Beloved for his role as one of America’s favorite TV dads, Phil Dunphy, for 11 seasons on the ABC hit comedy series, Burrell has been on a hiatus from Hollywood. 

But he’s slowly inching back into the limelight, recently revealing to PopCulture.com that he filmed a pilot and is itching to jump into more projects. 

Now, he’s partnered with Chase and United Airlines for a campaign that is all about easy travel in such a chaotic world. The United Family of Cards from Chase is designed to make flying the world’s largest airline even more rewarding, valuable and personalized.

Burrell spoke with PC about what made this partnership a natural fit. He also gave us his take on a potential Modern Family reunion, and shared some of his favorite memories from the show.

POPCULTURE: How did your partnership with United Airlines and Chase come about?

TY BURRELL: I travel a lot with my family, and we’ve flown United for a long time. So when I was approached to partner with United, it just kind of seemed like a good fit, and then also just kind of learning how much these cards simplified and improved travel for people who fly United, that made it feel just even more organic. I hope people like the campaign. It’s a very lighthearted look at how these cards can kind of improve people’s travel. I’ve always viewed travel, even my work travel, as fun. And I think United is really trying to convey that in the campaign – that travel can be fun. And it’s obviously improved by using these cards.

Now there’s a tie-in that has some lightheartedness to it which is addressing common travel situations into the campaign, what are some common travel situations that you always find yourself in?

Now I have teenagers, so it’s now sort of like getting them off of their phones and looking around at where we’re actually traveling. But I would say in the airport and stuff like that, trying to lug around too many bags, which is one of the things the card offers free checked bags – traveling with so much luggage with my family is hard. So anything that makes it just simpler and easier is what I’m a huge fan of, whether it’s boarding as early as possible or anything similar is what works for me.

What other benefits about the cards do you like? 

Aside from the free checked bags, I like the club passes. That’s a huge hit in the family. There’s rideshare credit as a benefit. Ride share options are on there. I use miles to upgrade a lot, which is also a benefit. There are hotel rewards. The car has priority boarding options. There’s just so many. And that’s part of why I think it’s worth trying. 

And as someone who was already an avid traveler via United Airlines, what do you believe sets United Airlines apart from their competitors?

I would say, and this is true of every company that I really partner with, I just want them to care. I think that’s the vibe I’ve gotten from the very beginning of working with United is that they really care. They want to make travel as easy and fun and as simple as possible. And the campaign was that way too. It’s just been a very kind of pleasant lighthearted experience with people who really care about what they’re doing.

Now, you talked about making travel easier. What are some tips you’ve learned along the way as someone who travels often that make travel easier for you?

I’ve never figured out jet lag. I really wish this card had a jet lag benefit. Everyone has their thing. Mine is packing. I pack in a certain way. I have a quirky way of packing where I roll all my clothes. I also have a dopp kit thing that I have that’s dedicated just for my seat. It’s just full of stuff that I would only use while in my seat. So I pull that out as I’m sitting down. And it has my work iPad, ear earphones, glasses, hand sanitizer and all those sorts of things. 

I think that United Airlines has good seat proportions. They’re not, they’re not too big, so that’s also another reason why I think United is the way to go.

Oh, nice, nice. I’m gonna add that to my repertoire.

Now, before I let you go, you spoke about traveling a lot with your family. Obviously you’re beloved for your role as Phil Dunphy in Modern Family, which lasted 11 seasons, and I have that on repeat on Peacock. I literally finished the whole series and started over like every two months.

I love it. That makes me happy.

It never gets old. So what about Phil is so special to you? Everyone always asks “Who’s your favorite character from the show?” And I always say Phil. He’s just so consistent throughout the 11 seasons.

Thank you. I really appreciate that. It’s a similar answer to like the partnership with United Airlines. I think the thing I love about Phil is that he’s totally imperfect and was constantly messing up, but that he really cared. He never made mistakes out of negligence or just like phoning it in. It was always from trying too hard, which I think is probably frighteningly close to my own life. That was always my favorite thing about playing that character. It was easy to get up in the morning, like waking up in the morning to go to work at whatever 5:30 in the morning. When you’re gonna play somebody who is that kind of optimistic and really just tries so hard, it was just a dream job.

Now there was supposed to be a Cam and Mitch spinoff that never came to pass. I would like a Claire and Phil spinoff.

I love it. I’ll bet Julie would be into that too. I think we would love that. There’s always talk about some form of a reunion or something. I don’t know if there really is talk of spinoffs anymore. But I think at some point, we’ll probably end up doing a Christmas show or something. I think we all still love each other, and I think there’s probably something down the road that would work out.

What is your favorite Phil moment?

I think PHILospophy was, “Always look people in the eye, and if they’re blind, tell them you’re looking them in the eye.” I don’t know why that always made me laugh. The writers on that show are unbelievably brilliant.

Do you think Phil had a favorite kid? I always think Luke was always his favorite.

Oh man. I think they were definitely two peas in a pod. Probably not a favorite child but they did everything together, so that would probably be the logical choice.

And aside from this United Airlines and Chase Bank campaign and partnership that you’re doing, what other projects are you working on or can we expect to see you in in the future? You’re always so funny. Do you see yourself doing a really dark dramatic role?  I remember thinking it was you who played in the Joker movie, you guys looked so similar. 

Oh, that’s amazing. He’s (Joaquin Phoenix) a great actor, but I don’t really crave that, so I started my career actually playing a lot of dark roles and I started out in theater and it was it was always me playing, pardon my language, but a lot of assholes…

I know that can be hard for actors who are like method actors getting rid of shedding those characters.

I’m not method, but it’s not my favorite way to wake up in the morning. I really like to wake up knowing I’m gonna go out and try to, figure out how to make this the funniest it can be. I’ve taken a long break. We moved to Utah. I’ve taken a long break, but I just kind of got the itch again recently. I shot a pilot a few months ago and it kind of reignited a little bit of my fire and me saying, “I think maybe I need to perform again.” So I have a couple of projects potentially in the works and I’m negotiating with my family about being gone. That’s really the hardest part.

Well, you’ve done some theater projects as you mentioned, and there’s been a resurgence of actors on Broadway. Would you do a long-standing Broadway production? I can see you like singing and dancing.

Oh, that’s nice. I wish I could really sing. I can sing in that way that is like the guy who you in the show, you’re like, “Oh, but he’s probably not really supposed to be singing.” I can sing-talk. I really don’t think I’ll be doing theater at least anytime soon because the schedule is just so brutal. I have teenage girls and it’s just really hard to stay connected. Theater is really tough. You’re at home when they’re at school. They get home and you’re gone, and that’s even if you’re in the same town, doing Broadway would mean being gone for like 9 to 10 months, so I don’t think so. There are elements that I miss about theater, but it just doesn’t seem like it would work out, for at least not for a while.