(ABC / Richard Cartwright)

Since ABC has already renewed its Modern Family TV show for its ninth and tenth seasons, we don’t have to worry about it being cancelled anytime too soon. That said, the end is more or less nigh for the top rated Alphabet Network sitcom.

Although he allows Modern Family could continue beyond season 10, Steve Levitan says he and co-creator Christopher Lloyd are thinking of wrapping up the story with its tenth installment. The ABC comedy stars Ed O’Neill, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sofía Vergara, Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, Jeremy Maguire, and Brigitte the French bulldog.

Here’s more, from Deadline:

While a 10-year run was not something [Levitan] and fellow co-creator Christopher Lloyd had envisioned from the get-go, it had been a milestone they had been building toward for the last few years. “Our original goal was to just stay on the air,” he told Deadline during ABC’s TCA party. “But after awhile though we may be in control our own fate, and 10 sounded like a nice round number.” And while they could conceivably go beyond 10 seasons, Levitan said that he expects that the show will end with Season 10.

As for how exactly Modern Family will end, “We haven’t had that exact conversation yet how we want to end the show episode-wise,” Levitan said, adding that those discussions will start in earnest as the writers start mapping out the second part of the current ninth season. “We’ve talked about areas that we want to go and tonally what we want to do.”

He said that he, Lloyd and their team have bounced around different scenarios — ending the show with a death or with a twist, like Newhart. Ultimately, “I think we will end the show the way we started it in the pilot, with a big family event,” Levitan said, declining to elaborate what that event might be.

[…]

Modern Family just started filming on Season 9, with 13 episodes already broken by the writers. The Season 8 season finale centered on Manny and Luke’s high school graduation. In the new season, Manny is off to college while Luke is taking a gap year. With Levitan’s son also in college, he has plenty of stories to draw on.

What do you think? Are you still watching the Modern Family TV series? Do you plan to watch seasons nine and ten on ABC?