The 10th season of “Modern Family” wrapped up Wednesday night with an homage to the Emmy-winning comedy’s pilot episode. In the season finale, Haley, played by Sarah Hyland, gives birth to twins. Soon afterward, Mitchell and Cam, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet respectively, manage to get their hands on the newborns and place them above their heads, all while the “Circle of Life” song from “The Lion King” plays in the background. This major scene references a similar scene in the series’ first episode, when Cam reveals he and Mitchell have adopted a baby daughter in the same way. “Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan said revisiting the bit made perfect sense, especially since ABC is owned by Disney, which made the original “The Lion King” and is releasing an update of the classic film this summer. Mitchell and Cam hold Haley's twins in a moment that hearkens back to the "Modern Family" pilot. ABC “It’s also a good thing that we’re in the same company because otherwise that would be a very difficult song to get,” Levitan told The Hollywood Reporter. “Modern Family” will return in the fall for an 11th and final season. The whole family came by to meet Haley's twins! ABC Hyland said calling out the show’s first episode was creative, whether it was for a season or series finale. “I thought that this season or series would end exactly like this season did, which was having the babies, having a circle-of-life moment,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “I definitely was like, ‘That would be a really beautiful, full 360 to pay homage to the pilot, wrap it all up with everybody being together and having this new modern family.’” The show will stick around for one more year so fans will have to wait and see how everything wraps up, following this season’s addition of two family members. “But now we have another (season) after it, so we’ll see how they actually decide to end it,” Hyland said.<doc-sep>The 10th season finale of “Modern Family” on Wednesday night brought with it some new members of the family. RELATED: Ed O’Neill Talks Final Season Of ‘Modern Family’ On ‘Ellen’: ‘We May Go On A Trip To Colombia’ Sarah Hyland’s Haley finally gave birth to twins, making her parents Phil and Claire grandparents. With the emotional birth, the family spent time looking back on birthdays past, from Haley’s father Phil celebrating his 50th birthday by deciding to learn piano and speak Spanish, to the time Manny tried to propose to his girlfriend only for her to dump him. In the end Haley gave birth to a boy and girl, giving them the names Pixar and Coachella, though those will probably change once her drugs wear off. RELATED: Sarah Hyland Makes Generous Donation To ‘Modern Family’ Co-Star Ariel Winter’s Cousin As He Recovers From A Near-Fatal Infection Mitch and Cam helped introduce the new babies to the family with a performance of “The Circle of Life”. “Modern Family” has been renewed for one final season, so fans will have to wait until then to learn the babies’ real names, and find out where everyone else ends up.<doc-sep>Modern Family Close this dialog window Streaming Options ABC’s venerable comedy Modern Family closed out its 10th but not final season with an episode that you’ve been waiting for almost all season: the one in which Haley gives birth to twins. And while Wednesday night’s “A Year of Birthdays” delivered on that promise — twice, technically — it did so in a rather unconventional way, building the episode around a year of birthdays for all the Dunphys-Pritchetts-Tuckers, and ending not only on the 51st birthday of Phil (Ty Burrell), but the actual day of birth for Haley’s twins. The episode opened on his big 5-0, with Phil pledging to learn something new and scary. A year later and much later in the episode, there he was, about to hit the stage at a children’s piano recital, getting bullied by a fellow student for his advanced age. And then… it happened: Haley (Sarah Hyland) was overwhelmed by her contractions and made a dash for the hospital. Phil quickly followed, but before exiting the building, he did manage to perform the world’s fastest rendition of “Für Elise” and take a parting shot at the mean kid by quipping, “Say hi to your mom for me.” MODERN FAMILY - "A Year of Birthdays" - As the birth of Haley and Dylan's twins approaches, we take a look back at how each family member celebrated their birthdays this past year on the season finale of "Modern Family," WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 (9:00-9:31 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network (ABC/Kelsey McNeal) REID EWING, JULIE BOWEN, SARAH HYLAND, TY BURRELL Credit: Kelsey McNeal/ABC There would be no obstacles to the obstetrician — not even a “push! push!” moment with Haley and new husband/old boyfriend Dylan (Reid Ewing) — just a newly crowned mother resting happily in her hospital bed. As the family gathered in the hospital room, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), in matching orange robes, made the grand introduction, parading around the baby boy and girl a la Simba’s “Circle of Life” scene from The Lion King, bringing things full circle back to Modern Family’s pilot episode, when Cam presented baby Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) in similar fashion. Hyland was pleased to see the series aim to subvert expectations of the milestone moment with a time-hopping episode. “I don’t think it’s been done in that way leading up to such a momentous occasion,” she tells EW. “That was a really cool way of executing it, especially ending it with such a big thing.” Co-creator Steven Levitan, who wrote and directed the episode, says that the idea for an episode built around everyone’s birthdays had been in development for a while, unrelated to Haley’s birth-of-twins story. As he began brainstorming the birth plot, “I was very concerned about all the tropes involved in a birth episode,” he tells EW. “I said, ‘Wait a minute, a birthday is the day someone’s born, too. Wouldn’t that be cool to integrate that into this?’” Possibly so. But first he had to solve the creative challenge of covering double-digit birthday flashbacks in 30 minutes. “How do you make them each different and lively?” he says. “How do you not make it just feel like a bunch of sketches? How do they flow from one to another?” Then he had to sell this fusion of ideas to his writing staff, who had what he calls a “valid concern” about tucking such a pivotal moment into just the end of the show. But when the writers started to explore ways to tackle the baby-is-born episode — hardly new territory in sitcom land — “everything had been done that we could think of: the mad dash to the hospital, the going into labor,” he says. “At the end of the day, this just felt fresher to [us], to really put it in the context of everybody’s birthday. “I liked that it’s just the pure moment of you get to it — you’re not living in that for a long time of someone’s in pain and they’re stuck in an elevator or car.” Ending the episode on that circle-of-life, pilot-mirroring moment radiates so much closure, it almost feels like it could have wrapped up the entire series, not only the season. (And this 10th season almost served as the show’s last, before all parties agreed to an 11th and final season.) Hyland says that she and her costars were buzzing about that series-finale vibe in the scene. “Going into season 10, I was told beforehand that Haley was going to be pregnant, and this is also when season 10 was going to be our last season,” she adds. “I thought that this season or series would end exactly like this season did, which was having the babies, having a circle-of-life moment. I definitely was like, ‘That would be a really beautiful, full 360 to pay homage to the pilot, wrap it all up with everybody being together and having this new modern family.’ But now we have another [season] after it, so we’ll see how they actually decide to end it. We have amazing writers, so I know they’re going to end it perfectly and top this season finale, but… I can’t imagine anything better than this.” MODERN FAMILY - "A Year of Birthdays" - As the birth of Haley and Dylan's twins approaches, we take a look back at how each family member celebrated their birthdays this past year on the season finale of "Modern Family," WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 (9:00-9:31 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network (ABC/Kelsey McNeal) Credit: Kelsey McNeal/ABC Back in the fall, when it still was unclear if season 10 would be the last, the writers planned for the birth episode to serve as the season finale that could double as series finale. “For a while there we were like, ‘Well, if that’s involved in our [series] finale, that will be great,” he says.<doc-sep>MODERN FAMILY - "Commencement" - Cam is finally getting a chance to shine when he is asked to preside over the high school graduation ceremony at the last minute, while Jay gives the commencement address. Meanwhile, Claire runs into her former high school rival who brings out the worst in her on "Modern Family," airing WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 (9:00-9:31 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network. (Tony Rivetti via Getty Images) JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, JULIE BOWEN, TY BURRELL Chris Hemsworth and Tiffany Haddish buddy up for Down Under Cover by Kareem Gantt Here’s how you can watch the Modern Family season 10 finale episode “A Year of Birthdays” live online or the old-fashioned way right on your television. Modern Family concludes its tenth season tonight on ABC at 9 p.m. ET. You can watch episode “A Year of Birthdays” live online with the ABC official live stream. Next season is officially the last according to Deadline. By the looks of this week’s preview trailer, it looks Haley’s water is about to break in the middle of the Philip playing piano at a talent show. Is the show really going to end season 10 with Haley officially giving birth to the twins or will they wait till season 11? Last week’s Modern Family episode scored a 4.24 rating according to TV By The Numbers, the lowest of the tenth season. The show was noticeable down from the prior episode’s 4.81 rating. Keep in mind, the series was pulling 5+ million viewers to start season 10. Having Haley have the twins on tonight’s episode will likely prove a ratings draw for long-time viewers of the show and bring intrigue into next season. Modern Family has relied more on celebrity cameos and shock previews that don’t actually end up happening this season. For example, Dylan’ mom kissing Phil, Jay fraternizing with another woman (a parent from Joe’s school) but these are teasers to draw one in. The only one that actually happened as one would imagine was Jay’s ex-wife Didi passing (“Good Grief”), they went all out. That episode is particularly memorable for Jay’s concern over his stolen sandwich. Yet, the series doesn’t really need to rely on shockers. It’s the kind of sitcom people want to be comfortable watching in syndication a million times. Not recall character deaths at all in a mourning style episode. George Costanza’s bride to be Susan in Seinfeld passing from low quality toxic glue on their wedding invitations fit into the comedy formula. It’s time to go back to the basics. Classic universal appeal like Gloria’s sister attempting to steal Jay away and seething with jealousy of the life her sister stole from her. Is it time!? Something big is coming to #ModernFamily's season finale this Wednesday! pic.twitter.com/CNyiPepDqu — Modern Family (@ModernFam) May 6, 2019 How to watch Modern Family’s latest episode tonight online via live stream or on TV. Date: Wednesday, May 8 Start Time: 9 p.m. ET Episode: “A Year of Birthdays” TV Channel: ABC Live Stream: Watch live on ABC’s official live stream Be sure to check out ABC.com to catch up on season 10 of Modern Family.<doc-sep>
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 10, Episode 22 of Modern Family, “A Year of Birthdays.”] Fans of Modern Family were taken on a walk down memory lane as Season 10 wrapped on Wednesday night. Throughout the half-hour installment, birthdays from the past year in the Dunphy-Pritchett family are visited, beginning with Phil’s (Ty Burrell) 50th. Per usual, nothing seems to go perfect during each event, but it all culminates in a full-circle moment by the episode’s end. Season 10 focused heavily on Haley’s (Sarah Hyland) pregnancy, so it only made sense that the finale would finish up with the birth of her twins. While the Dunphy family was attending Phil’s piano recital — part of some goals set during his 50th birthday — Haley goes into labor. Making a hilarious scene with their exit from the recital, the family’s path eventually leads to the hospital where viewers meet Haley and Dylan’s (Reid Ewing) twins — a boy and a girl. But the babies don’t get a typical introduction, Uncle Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Uncle Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) make a nostalgia-stirring entrance with Lion King‘s “Circle of Life,” calling back to their own introduction of daughter Lily in the series premiere. Essentially, the finale served as a sort of reset for the Modern Family crew as we returned to the beginning with new life. The episode certainly sets up for the show’s final chapter in Season 11 as the Dunphy-Pritchett family turns a new page in their book. The writers could do a lot with the addition of Haley and Dylan’s twins, but perhaps they could even do a time-jump for Season 11? Maybe even five years in the future. The move would allow the younger generation to be featured for a final wave of fun and jokes. Ultimately, fans will have to wait until the next season to find out how it will all play out, but it’s nice to see where the family is heading in this heartwarming season finale.