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Modern Family, which aired on ABC from 2009 to 2020, became one of the most popular sitcoms for its story and its characters. The show revolved around a family that was not conventional, but was full of love.
Rico Rodriguez played Manny Delgado on Modern Family and was one of the show's most loved characters. He is remembered for his unique humor and personality. However, he almost stopped playing the character of Manny after season eight.
After Rodriguez had filmed the eighth season of Modern Family, his father, Roy Rodriguez, had passed away. On the June 3, 2025 episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson's podcast, Dinner's on Me, Rico said that his father was the one who used to help him with the show's contracts, and thus losing him made it difficult for the actor to return to the show.
Why did Rico Rodriguez almost not return to Modern Family in 2017?
Rico Rodriguez, like Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, grew up from young children to young adults on the show. Rico enjoyed being a part of the show as much as the audience loved his presence on their screens. As Rico said to Ferguson on the Dinner's on Me podcast, his time on Modern Family was "such a blessing."
He also said,
"That time in my life was so special. And I look back on it fondly."
However, it wasn't always an easy road. Rico Rodriguez's father, Roy Rodriguez, passed away in 2017. By that time, Rico had already filmed season eight of Modern Family, and up till that point, his father used to be the one who handled all the contractual work regarding the show.
But when the contracts for season nine came, he was hesitant to return. As Rico said to Jesse Tyler Ferguson on the Dinner's on Me podcast,
"There was a point where I actually thought, you know, I don't know if I wanna come back. Because, I don't know, I mean, the patriarch of our family is gone and he was the biggest motivator."
Rico went on to explain, saying,
"He was all of our ideas. So there was a point where I was like, you know what? Maybe I don't wanna come back and I wanna hold off because I don't know if I can."
Losing a parent is never easy, and thus, the thought of going back to filming the show was a difficult one. Rico wasn't sure what he would do. As he told Ferguson on the Dinner's on Me podcast,
"I stood up there and I looked at everybody and I couldn't help but cry and get emotional because my dad passed in March and then in July, we're starting right up again,"
But Rico also knew that he couldn't just give up, and that his father would want him to continue working on the show. Moreover, he also knew that his castmates would be there for him in those trying times. As Rodriguez said on the Dinner's on Me podcast,
"And it was like, man, being here, it helps me. It's helping me just because I know how much love you guys have given me over the years. Knowing that I had you guys to be there with, to uplift me, and just have a good time, it really made my decision a lot easier to for sure come back."
As hard as it was, Rico Rodriguez did return to Modern Family for the rest of the seasons, and let us watch Manny Delgado flourish into an admirable man.
Modern Family is now streaming on Hulu. New Dinner's on Me episodes come out every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Audible.
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