Eric Stonestreet ‘hurt’ by network’s Modern Family decision

Eric Stonestreet has spoken bluntly about his reaction to TV bosses passing on a planned spin-off of the hit show.

Eric Stonestreet has spoken out about plans for his Modern Family spin-off being passed on.

Eric Stonestreet has offered a dismal update on a Modern Family spin-off that never was.

He lamented the loss of the project, which would have centred on his character Cameron “Cam” Tucker, Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s character Mitchell “Mitch” Pritchett, and their on-screen daughter Lily Tucker-Pritchett (Aubrey Anderson Emmons), telling journalist Graham Bensinger that he “do[es]n’t think it’s potential anymore,” per Entertainment Weekly.

“They had their chance,” he continued. “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’. I think it hurt Jesse and I’s feelings, I think it hurt Chris’s Lloyd’s feelings.”

Modern Family stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Ferguson.

Stonestreet expressed his “love” for his character, the show as a whole, and Ferguson, whom he said he established “amazing chemistry” with on the hit sitcom, despite not knowing each other beforehand.

“I think Jesse and I maybe felt like they thought of us as the old guys, or something like that, that didn’t seem worthy of keeping those characters going,” he later added. “It felt a little hurtful. But people make business decisions. I mean, we can’t get involved in that.”

Nonetheless, Stonestreet felt the spin-off “would have been a slam dunk,” noting that one of the creators was “willing to do it”.

The actor said he was ‘hurt’ by the decision not to go ahead with the spin-off. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

After Bensinger mentioned that co-creator Steven Levitan “seemed conflicted about his decision not to join,” Stonestreet acknowledged that “the problem is [they] had a great thing” with the original series.

“When you ask someone, ‘Do you want to do a spin-off?’ Your first reaction is, ‘Why wouldn’t I want to work in this utopia more?’ Then you start to think about it, and Steve’s concern — and understandably and rightfully so — is it has to be great. We can’t dilute the brand by doing something just to do it, which I completely get and understand.”

However, Stonestreet claimed that they “had the right people in place” and that the show “would have been great.”

“If [US network] ABC would have said ‘Let’s do it,’ I think we’d be on right now,” he added.

As for whether the project could still come to fruition, Stonestreet said, “I don’t know how it works anymore, I really don’t because it’s been so long. Maybe not. I wish we would do a Christmas special or something like that. And there’s been talk of that.”

Stonestreet and numerous members of the Modern Family cast reunited last fall, over four-and-a-half years following the show’s April 2020 finale.

This article originally appeared in Decider and was reproduced with permission.