Ty Burrell on Nearly Losing His Role, His TV Kids and THAT Reunion: ‘Remember When I Died?’
The actor shares the real reason he missed the cast reunion—and how he nearly lost his iconic role
It was a beloved brothers-in-law reunion on Monday’s episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast, where the actor sat down with his Modern Family co-star—and real-life friend—Ty Burrell. The two, who played Mitchell Pritchett and Phil Dunphy on the hit sitcom for 11 seasons, shared memories and laughs while discussing everything from the viral cast reunion Burrell missed in 2023 to how he nearly lost the role that made him a household name.
Why Ty Burrell missed the ‘Modern Family’ cast reunion
When the Modern Family cast got together in November 2023, three years after the series finale, they nearly broke the internet. It was the first time the majority of the group had gotten together since the show ended, but noticeably absent from all of the many photos was Burrell. Well—the real Burrell.
His former castmates did make an effort to have him present in spirit by passing around a photo of his face from the show’s press. However, this gesture led fans to be concerned about Burrell’s wellbeing and whether he was alive.
“Remember when I died?” Burrell jokingly asked Ferguson as the two laughed.
Ferguson went on to explain that Burrell had actually been on-board throughout the entire planning process to attend the gathering and was confident he’d be able to attend, but somehow forgot that he was scheduled to have surgery on that day.
“After that whole thing, everybody in the cast was telling me that, you know, apparently I’d passed,” recalled Burrell. “But the only photos I had of me missing that were me in the hospital from surgery.”
Ferguson then acknowledged that the way the cast had been holding Burrell’s photo and propping it on top of a fireplace at Sofia Vergara’s home (where she hosted the reunion) did “sort of look like we’re having a memorial for you.”
Burrell also noted that the particular headshot used felt like a punishment for his absence. It was a shot of him in character as Phil, the self-proclaimed “cool dad,” wearing large over-the-ear headphones.
The real-life bond between Ty Burrell and his TV kids
Phil Dunphy is cemented as one of the most adored TV dads, and Burrell shared that his love for Sarah Hyland, who played daughter Haley Dunphy, Ariel Winter, who played daughter Alex Dunphy and Nolan Gould, who played son Luke Dunphy, extends beyond the screen.
“I adore all three of them,” Burrell gushed. “And when I get a chance to be with them, I love it. I think the world of them, you know? They’re all three so different and just such awesome people and just easy company. From afar, I’m just rooting for them in a semi-parental way.”
The Emmy-winner went on to share one specific story about himself and Gould. While they had a super sweet father-son dynamic on the show, Burrell said the moment he felt most like a dad to Gould occurred when the two traveled to the Grand Canyon together.
Burrell, who described Gould as incredibly adventurous, recalled being unsurprised and confident when he decided to kayak in the rapids. However, the young actor was knocked off of his kayak into the rough waters.
The first time, he climbed back on quickly and continued riding, Burrell said. Then, he got pulled under a second time and was stuck beneath the surface for what Burrell estimates was about 16 seconds.
“I could see him kind of come up and reach his hand up and pulled him onto the boat and he was white as a ghost,” said Burrell. “He still wanted to get back on. That’s Nolan. I said, ‘No more.’ I got to play TV dad. I was like, ‘You’re done.’”
He almost wasn’t cast as Phil Dunphy
Despite show writers creating the role of Phil with Burrell in mind, he narrowly landed the job on Modern Family.
As he and Ferguson remembered their audition processes, Burrell said his first time reading lines in front of the casting directors went terribly as he was nervous and stiff. The second time he had improved a bit, his performance still wasn’t up to par.
The specific feedback he received? “He’s not funny,” Burrell said.
So, Burrell, Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan, an actor who was testing for Luke and Sarah Hyland, who was being tested for the role of Haley, filmed a variation of the scene from the show’s pilot where Phil accidentally shoots Luke with a BB gun.
It was then that network executives understood Burrell’s appeal and offered him the role of Phil. (Additional fun fact: Burrell hadn’t met or interacted with Julie Bowen, who played his wife Claire Dunphy, until the cast gathered for their first time reading the script together!)
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