Modern Family co-creator confirms how show will end, says season 10 will 'likely' be the last

The long-running sitcom was renewed for two more seasons earlier this year

Modern Family co-creator Steven Levitan has confirmed plans to end the series with its tenth season.

ABC renewed the long-running sitcom for two more seasons in May bringing its overall count to ten - the same number Friends ran for - with Levitan telling Deadline that sounds “...like a nice round number.”

He even went so far as to express how he plans to wrap the series with co-writer Christopher Lloyd.

“We haven’t had that exact conversation yet how we want to end the show episode-wise. We’ve talked about areas that we want to go and tonally what we want to do.”

He added that, after considering ending the show with a shock death or twist, they will ultimately “...end the show the way we started it in the pilot, with a big family event,”

Modern Family - which began in 2009 - follows the stories of different members of the Pritchett family including Jay (Ed O'Neill), wife Gloria (Sofia Vergara), daughter Claire (Julie Bowen), son Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and sons-in-law Phil (Ty Burrell) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet).

Cameras are now rolling on season nine and Levitan confirmed that the tenth run will be mapped out during the latest season's second half.

Over its eight years on the air, Modern Family has won 22 Emmy awards, five of which were for Outstanding Comedy Series for its first five seasons.