'Modern Family' Will End After Season 11, So Start Saying Goodbye To The Dunphys

After over 10 years together, the Dunphy-Pritchett family is going to go their separate ways. ABC announced that its long-running hit comedy series Modern Family will be coming to an end with this upcoming eleventh season at the Television Critics Association press tour on Tuesday afternoon. Since the sitcom has been on for so many years, it is hard to believe that Modern Family will end after Season 11, but it looks like it is finally time for fans to say goodbye to the extended family.

Currently, Modern Family is in the middle of airing its tenth season, which began this past September and is predicted to conclude this coming May. ABC announced that the network has picked up the sitcom for an eleventh and final season, likely set to begin airing in the fall of 2019. Unlike previous seasons, Season 11 of Modern Family was only picked up for 18 episodes — each previous season consisted of either 22 or 24 episodes. But the network did clarify that there is an option to expand that order to 22 episodes in the future. Either way, the series finale will air at some point in early to mid-2020.

The cancellation is a big move for ABC, considering Modern Family is the network's flagship comedy series. Having premiered in 2009, Modern Family is easily the longest running sitcom that is currently airing on ABC, and it arguably set the precedent for many of the comedy series on the network today. The show's focus on a more diverse and complex family structure is also felt through the sitcoms ABC picked up following its success, such as Blackish, The Goldbergs, Fresh Off the Boat, and Speechless.

And it is impossible to ignore what a critical smash Modern Family was for ABC, especially in its earlier seasons. The show won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series back-to-back every single year for its first five seasons, which is a monumental feat.

A couple Modern Family stars took to social media after the news of the final season broke to share their love for the series and one another:

At the TCA press tour, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke praised Modern Family co-creators/executive producers Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd for creating such a seminal show, and promised fans that the final season will contain milestone events that are sure to be extra special:

Chris and Steve have created one of the most seminal and iconic comedies in television history. In its final season, there will be more milestone events that anyone who has been a fan of the series won’t want to miss.

In a sense, this does seem like a good stopping point for Modern Family. The series began with the young cast playing pre-teens and teenagers, but now that a decade has past, all of the kids are in college or moving on with their lives, making it naturally more difficult to tie everyone into a cohesive story.

But fans still have a whole final season with the Dunphy-Pritchett family before having to say goodbye. Look for Season 11 of Modern Family to begin airing in the fall.