MODERN FAMILY: Christopher Lloyd Talks Season 3, Recasting Lily and More

Will MODERN FAMILY be adding a new addition to the clan this season?

When viewers last saw our favorite families, Cam and Mitch were pondering the idea of giving Lily a baby brother or sister. But will the show actually follow through with the cliffhanger?

To get some answers, Give Me My Remote chatted with co-creator Christopher Lloyd about Cam and Mitch’s (possible) new addition, the Emmy nominations, recasting baby Lily and more…

Congratulations on all of the Emmy nominations! How do you feel about all of the actors finally being nominated?
Christopher Lloyd: Nothing could be better! We were in odd position last year of having a remarkable percentage of our cast nominated and still felt sort of bad about it because Ed [O’Neill (Jay)] was left out. So this year we were sort of crossing our fingers, at the same time realizing that it’s almost too much to hope for because six nominees out of 12, I don’t know if that’s ever been done before. But when it did happen, it was the greatest, literally, mathematically it could be and probably the best we’ll ever have on the show. But it’s great. It’s everything you want.

What can you tease about the new season? Obviously there was the cliffhanger with Cam and Mitch wanting another baby, so is that going to be a season-long arc or will it be resolved quickly?
CL: It will be explored. I’m not sure season-long, but certainly half of the season or three-quarters of the season. We’re trying to work out the story realistically and if you are a gay couple trying to get a baby, you don’t stop and just get one. You have to sign up with a lawyer, meet prospective mothers and more or less audition for them and decide whether you want to go overseas or domestic or you want go the surrogate route. And when we got into the reality of how these things happen, lots of stories suggested themselves.

For example, Cam and Mitch sort of having an inspector come, because [in real-life] you have someone come to your home [to make sure you don’t have] a less desirable home. There is another story where they consider going with a surrogate, but they consider a member of the family. So things like that.

Wow! Obviously you’ve just had to recast baby Lily. Was there any concern about getting into a similar situation with another child?
CL: Well, I guess. That will be down the road. The Lily situation was no one’s ideal situation because we loved that little girl and she was so cute, [as played by] the twins. But they just weren’t happy coming to work and the whole process kind of traumatized them a little bit. We wanted to do what’s best for these little girls, which seemed to be [to] not have them cry, which they did [on-set]. So we got an adorable little girl who looks like the old Lily.

That’s completely fair. No one can blame you for that.
CL: Well, I know that people will say it’s a compliment to the show, that people are so attached to it that they don’t want it to change at all. We’re cognizant of that.

Good to hear. Are there any other storylines you can tease?
CL: Yeah, in one of the episodes, the family goes to a dude ranch. Part of it is Mitch and Cam are getting ready to be fathers of boys and they want to rediscover their macho side. And that’s at a dude ranch set in Wyoming.

Individual episodes, we’ve got Haley going off to college and that leads Phil to take her to his alma mater. Phil also decides he wants to be a tightrope walker, so that’s not an arc, but it’s a very amusing story. We’ve shot that one already. Javier, Benjamin Bratt — Gloria’s ex-husband — returning for an episode. So pretty much some short arcs like Haley’s college thing and the stuff with the baby, but mostly standalones.

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What are you looking forward to seeing in MODERN FAMILY season 3?

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