Like the rest of the Modern Family kids, Rico Rodriguez has grown up on the show. Rico is now 21 years old and he’s been playing Manny Delgado on the hit ABC comedy for 11 years. The cast started filming the final season in Sept. 2019 and knowing that he won’t be doing the same thing next year is a bit surreal for Rico. “That’s going to be tough. I’ve been on this show for 11 amazing years and this is my family,” Rico told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “They’re my second family, so I know that once we’ve finished in March, I am going to think we’re going to come back and start up in July. It’s going to be weird when that time of the year comes around again and we know we’re not going to get together to start filming again. It’s definitely going to be weird and an adjustment period. But it can also be fun to venture out. I think all the cast can venture out and do things that may be different than what we have done already, but it’ll be weird. But I think we’ll still keep in touch and everything.”
The cast is about halfway through filming season 11. Despite inching closer to the series finale, Rico doesn’t know what’s in store for Manny and the rest of the character. “We don’t know what’s going to happen,” he continued. “We don’t know what it is yet. It’s definitely going to be fun.” He admitted that wants to be “surprised” by what happens and doesn’t want to find out until he has to read the script.
Rico reveals that a great series finale that comes to his mind is the Breaking Bad series finale. The actor shares his hopes about Modern Family series finale. “I just hope that it [Modern Family] ends on a great note and it’s just family,” Rico said. “At the end of the day, we’re always going to be family. It’s going to be fun!”
Modern Family’s last Halloween episode is coming up and you know the show is going to go all out. The Oct. 30 episode synopsis reads: “Phil is determined to finally scare Claire on Halloween. Meanwhile, for the first time, Gloria is feeling self-conscious about her age when someone correctly assumes she is Jay’s wife; and Mitch and Cam head to the WeHo Halloween Carnival after Lily decides to go to her first Halloween party alone.” Modern Family airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.