Modern Family: WhatsApp Reunites Bowen, Burrell, Stonestreet, Ferguson (2024)

Posted in: ABC, Hulu, Pop Culture, streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: ABC, meta, modern family, whatsapp

Check out Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen, and Ty Burrell's Modern Family reunion in support of Meta's WhatsApp.

A little more than four years after the hit sitcom left ABC's airwaves after 11 seasons, the closes we've come to a full on-screen reunion was during the 2024 SAG Awards – whenJesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Ed O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, and Ty Burrell were on hand to present the award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series (with FX's The Bear walking away with top honors). With the cast continuing to make headlines with their individual projects, the questions about if and when an official reunion might happen continue to rumble. Well, it looks like Meta is giving Modern Family fans a little of what they want with a new ad for its chat service WhatsApp – with Bowen(Claire Dunphy), Burrell (Phil Dunphy), Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker), and Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett) returning to their roles for a fun exchange about group chats, phones, and how WhatsApp can bring families together – to avoid all of that, "SHAME!!!"

Back in March,Ferguson revealed why having Burrell join them on stage was a must when he checked in with late-night host Jimmy Fallon during NBC's The Tonight Show. "Honestly, on that night, we were all busy," Ferguson shared about the cast's on-stage reunion during the awards ceremony streamed on Netflix. "Sofia [Vergara] was supposed to be doing press, I was supposed to be here in New York, Julie [Bowen] was shooting a show, Ed [O'Neill] had a glass of wine to drink. And so we all canceled those very important things, and we figured out a way to come together because the last time we had a reunion, Ty Burrell wasn't able to come, and so we posed with a photo of Ty… and then the internet thought he was dead."

Last November, Vergara posted several looks at an unofficial Modern Family reunion, and it was like jumping back into a time machine. Unfortunately, the only person missing was Burrell, who could not make it out that night but was remembered by his castmates with a framed portrait – creating a vibe that maybe something was really, really wrong with Burrell. Here's a look:

After spending way more time than they expected convincing fans that Burrell was still alive, Ferguson wanted to ensure that the conspiracy theories wouldn't be fanned further by Burrell going MIA for the SAG Awards. "When the SAG Awards happened, [Burrell] was supposed to do something else. I was like, 'Ty! You can't miss it again! People will really think you're dead!' It's like, 'We need to present you to show you that you're not dead!' So he made it," Ferguson added.