Eric Stonestreet Says He and Jesse Tyler Ferguson Were 'Hurt' by Pass onModern FamilySpinoff: Would've 'Been a Slam Dunk'

Mar. 15, 2025

Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson attend The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Cocktail Reception at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2017.Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty

Eric StonestreetandJesse Tyler Fergusonwould’ve loved nothing more than to continue Cam and Mitchell’s story.

“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, 53, recalled during a Sept. 18interviewwith Graham Bensinger.

He admitted that the network passing on the spinoff “hurt Jesse and I’s feelings,” as well asModern Familyco-creater Lloyd’s.

“I think Jesse and I 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 just felt a little hurtful,” he continued, adding, “I love my character. I love the show. I love Jesse. We had a great working relationship, we had amazing chemistry.”

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet in ‘Modern amily’.Tony Rivetti/Getty

Not only was ABC passing on the spinoff script hurtful, but Stonestreet also thinks they missed out on a hit.

“I think it would have been a slam dunk,” he told Bensinger. “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. It wasn’t like two ancillary writers that were just being like, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a money grab here, and want to do a spinoff, and if it lasts a year, whatever, we made a couple of hundred thousand dollars.'”

Ferguson, 48, has also spoken previously about the potential Cam and Mitchell spinoff, as he toldAndy CohenonWatch What Happens Livein 2022 that there were “discussions” but “the network decided against it.”

“I think they were just wondering if this was the right family to still tell that story,” Ferguson explained. “We’d been on for 11 years, I think they were ready to move in a different direction.”

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily Tucker-Pritchett, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, and Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker in ‘Modern Family’.Robert Ashcroft/Getty

Robert Ashcroft/Getty

Though a spinoff seemingly wasn’t in the cards for Cam and Mitchell,Ferguson and Stonestreet got to return to theModern Familyset in May— along withJulie BowenandTy Burrell— to film a WhatsApp commercial as their beloved characters.

The commercial began with Phil (Burrell), Claire (Bowen) and Cam reacting to a photo that Haley (Sarah Hyland) sent to the family group chat, only to accidentally upset Mitchell who walks in to find out that he’s not in said group chat.

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All nine seasons ofModern Familycan be streamed on Hulu.

source: people.com