Modern Family to end with 11th season

Family time is officially winding to a close.

Modern Family has been renewed for an 11th season, which will serve as the show’s final one, ABC announced Tuesday at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena.

Since debuting in 2009, the faux-documentary series has established itself as one of TV’s most enduring family comedies as well as one of TV’s most decorated: It has won 22 Emmys, including the trophy for Outstanding Comedy Series five years in a row, a feat that was only matched by Frasier. The blended family comedy also has claimed a Peabody, and multiple GLADD Media Awards, and NAACP Image Awards. And its cast — which includes Ed O’Neill, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell. Sofia Vergara. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Sarah Hyland, Nolan Gould, Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, and Jeremy Maguire — has also won the ensemble comedy SAG Award four times.

“For 10 years, our characters have bravely faced turning points in life and moved through them to great personal enrichment; we have chosen a different path by doing one more season of Modern Family,” co-creator Christopher Lloyd quipped in a statement, while co-creator Steve Levitan added: “Even after 10 years together, we realized there are still some things our writers don’t yet know about each other’s sex lives.

While there was some consideration of wrapping things up after the current season, the producers began entertaining the possibility of going beyond season 10 as the new episodes were being written. “I think there’s a decent chance we’ll see it happen,” Lloyd said of an 11th season in August. “From our standpoint creatively we’ve gotten excited writing this season and changing the lives of the characters — some in a significant way — and it’s made us think, ‘Wow, there’s a lot to explore in the lives of these characters.’”

In October, Levitan noted that renewal looked more likely, though the negotiations were moving slowly because of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which included 20th Century Fox TV, the studio that produces Modern Family. Although he thought the show would end after season 10, he was “rolling with an ever-changing situation,” and was open to making more episodes. “All I care about, frankly, is that we end strong,” he told EW. “If that’s 10 seasons, or that’s 11 seasons, that’s okay. I want to make sure that we really have some things to say and we’re not just sort of running on fumes at the end. My biggest priority is: If we go forward, do we have something left to say, do we have things left to explore with these characters? And so far, every year we manage to find something, so I have no reason to think that we won’t…. If we do go forward, it’ll have to be everybody looking each other in the eye and saying, “Okay, we’ve got another good season in us — not just another season.”

Currently ABC’s longest running comedy, Modern Family is notching a 2.1 rating in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic and stands as the No. 4 ranked TV comedy this season. Season 10 has grabbed headlines for a Halloween episode that featured the death of Jay’s ex-wife DeDe (Shelley Long), as well as the pregnancy of Haley (Hyland).