Entertainment TV Scripted TV Shows Sofía Vergara Says She Jokingly Reminds Ed O'Neill 'Don't Die' So They Can Make a Modern Family 'Sequel' One Day "It'd be so much fun," Vergara said of returning to the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker family's hilarious dynamic By Julia Moore Julia Moore Julia Moore is a TV writer-reporter at PEOPLE. A graduate of Northwestern University, she has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. People Editorial Guidelines Published on August 14, 2024 02:16PM EDT Comments Close Sofia Vergara (left), Ed O'Neill. Photo: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Sofía Vergara has some long-term plans when it comes to the future of Modern Family. Four years after the beloved series ended, the actress said she'd "die" to be back on set with her fictional family. However, she knows that it's still too soon for the Pritchett, Dunphy and Tucker family's return. But Vergara, 52, does have an ongoing joke with her former onscreen husband, Ed O'Neill, regarding a potential follow-up to the show, which aired for 11 seasons from 2009 to 2020. Vergara told Variety that after seeing O'Neill, 78, in Clipped, she said to him, "You look f---ing old," before revealing that his age is a topic of conversation with regards to the show. Julie Bowen Recalls Being 'Pit Against' Sofía Vergara During Modern Family Days: 'Never Fed Into That' "I always joke with him, ‘Ed, don’t die. Because if we do the sequel, it will take some time, and you’re the oldest of us. You can’t be dead!'" Vergara said of how she teases the actor, who played Jay Pritchett, the husband of her character Gloria Pritchett. As for what the Griselda star would want the cast to do if they all got together again, she suggested a "TV movie," telling the outlet, "It’d be so much fun." Sofía Vergara as Gloria, Ed O'Neill as Jay Pritchett on 'Modern Family'. Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Her costar Sarah Hyland has similarly expressed interest in potentially revisiting the series, on which she starred as Haley Dunphy, telling PEOPLE in June, "I love the cast with my entire heart and soul... I would love to be back with everybody." She noted, however, that the storyline would affect whether she'd be on board or not. "I think creatively for me, I would want to know what as going on with Haley. I want to see her career back and stuff and her creativity, and I want her to be able to do both." Hyland, 33, added that she'd want to see her character do what her onscreen mom, Claire (Julie Bowen) "set out to do and did as an amazing mother as well as a businesswoman and CEO." Modern Family Cast Reunites and Feels the 'Shame' When This Family Member Is Left Out of the Group Chat (Exclusive) Last November, Vergara wrangled the cast together for their first reunion since the show's conclusion in 2020, and everyone but Ty Burrell was in attendance for the occassion. "It was very special," Vergara told PEOPLE afterward. "The day before I came from the Bahamas, and today I had this [event], so I’m exhausted, but it was so worth it." She shared that it was "the first time we had all seen each other in almost four years," making it "very exciting for all of us." Ed O'neill, Sofia Vergara, Ariel Winter, Sarah Hyland, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet in 'Modern Family'. Peter "Hopper" Stone/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Vergara, O'Neill, Bowen, Hyland, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons were all in attendance, as well as the showrunners Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan, who Stonestreet joked were the cast's "two dads." "It's amazing, because we're always connected," Vergara added. "Even though we haven't seen each other in so long, it felt like we just left the set in 2020." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. ] Modern Family can be streamed on Peacock and Hulu.