The groundbreaking series put a gay couple front and center long before positive LGBTQ+ representation was the norm.
Raffy Ermac*This post contains mild spoilers about the finale of Modern Family.
After 11 long years and just as many seasons, ABC's beloved comedy series Modern Family finally aired its much-anticipated, two-hour finale special that saw a surge in viewers last night. Although goodbyes from the ensemble cast are still fresh in the minds of many of the series' fans, there's also talks about potential spinoffs for some of the show's characters — specifically iconic queer couple Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet).
When asked by Deadline about the potential for a separate spinoff series centering around Mitch and Cam's move to Missouri, Modern Family co-creators Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd weighed in. While a spinoff didn't play into their decisions to have Mitch and Cam move, the pair said they would be open to the idea of the couple being the focus of their own show.
"No. At the moment I’m personally not thinking about that," Levitan said. "I think that there are a couple of writers who are thinking about well, is there a Mitch and Cam spinoff, but they’re literally just thinking about it. They’re using this time that we have now to think about it, if there’s something there. I’m not driving this but I’m a huge fan of Jesse and Eric, and those characters are of course near and dear to me, and I certainly think that they’re strong enough to carry a show. For me, I really felt that what I needed creatively was to work on something new after working on Modern Family for 12 years and pretty much exclusively."
"No. We wanted to have them off on a new journey, and it seemed symmetrical to have Mitchell follow Cam some place and maybe be around Cam’s family because Cam had played that role in Mitchell’s life for the last 11 years," Lloyd added. "Cam had this opportunity to do something wonderful and exciting, Mitchell felt okay, that makes my obligation to let him chase his dream, and I will go with him and see what that life is like for me."
"Now having said that yes, it does present a possibility for us," Lloyd continued. "Will that happen? I’m not sure but we would be probably dumb to not explore it. However, doing a spinoff is fraught in a lot of ways and we won’t do it unless we feel confident there’s something there, I don’t want to say it’s a long shot, it’s under discussion but we’ll see. We don’t want to jump into something like that, particularly because Modern Family is a tough act to follow, but that is a possibility."
The Emmy-winning series broke ground for introducing the world to Mitch and Cam back in 2009, when positive LGBTQ+ representation was still rare in a mainstream, network TV show. A year before marriage equality was passed on the national level, the couple exchanged their vows in the season 5 two-part finale. This week's finale special garnered a 1.6 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, Deadline reports, and drew in over 7.43 million viewers.
While nothing has been confirmed or even thought about yet, considering the mark Mitch and Cam left on the television landscape, we're sure fans would be more than happy to see the two dads return in some capacity to the small screen.
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