Eric Stonestreet 'hurt' by scrapped Modern Family spin-off

Eric Stonestreet felt hurt when TV network bosses rejected a Modern Family spin-off focused on his character.

The actor and his co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson were set to reprise their roles as married couple Cameron Tucker and Mitchell Pritchett in the spin-off, which was written by Modern Family's co-creator Christopher Lloyd.

However, TV bosses decided not to move forward with the new series, which would have followed Mitch and Cam's new life in Missouri.

"They said, 'No.' They just said, 'We don't want to do it,'" Stonestreet said on In Depth With Graham Bensinger, "I love my character. I love the show. I love Jesse. We had a great working relationship, we had amazing chemistry. 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. It felt a little hurtful. But people make business decisions."

Stonestreet insisted the spin-off would have been a "slam dunk" success thanks to a "really great script" by Lloyd. However, he noted that co-creator Steven Levitan was "understandably" worried about the project.

"We had the right people in place. It would have been great. If ABC would have said 'Let's do it,' I think we'd be on right now," he stated.

The 53-year-old actor added that he still hopes to reunite with Ferguson, saying, "I wish we'd do a Christmas special."

Stonestreet won two Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Cameron on the show, which ran from 2009 to 2020.