'Modern Family' Season 7 preview: Showrunner Christopher Lloyd reveals spoilers

As September arrives, the massively successful ABC comedy series, “Modern Family,” is one of the shows preparing to air its latest season. Season 7 arrives with a big weight of expectation on its shoulders and creator Christopher Lloyd speaks out about the pressure to stay on top and what’s to be expected when the show returns.

Season 7 premieres on September 23, 2015, just days after the 67^th Primetime Emmy Awards., which takes place on Sept. 20. This means that the new season will start airing either at the heels of a record-breaking sixth consecutive win for “Outstanding Comedy Series” or a massive disappointment. Nevertheless, the new season will have to live up to the show’s successful run so far.

Showrunner Christopher Lloyd, spoke to Deadline about the Emmy pressure and the enormous success that the show has had after completing six seasons. “Of course it feels gratifying. I remember early on people reviewing the show saying, ‘This one feels like it’s built to last.’ You never want to believe that,” he said. “Because you feel like you’re putting a curse on things if you do,” he continued.

He also shared some details about the direction that the show will be taking for Season 7. He pointed out that the kids are growing up and this has been an asset in the writing process. Their growth has spawned a wide range of new situations and story lines to explore.

As an example, he mentioned how Haley (Sarah Hyland) used to be a “surly” teenager. Over the years, she has now grown up. In the coming season, she will be considering what he describes to be a “legitimate adult relationship.”

Romantic Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez) has also evolved a lot from being the hopeless romantic ten-year-old who was pursuing much older girls. He is now 17 and he is growing into adulthood. His younger brother Fulgencio, or Joe, has also been recast with an older actor. He could soon play a bigger role in the Delgado-Pritchett family dynamics.

Lloyd also shared that Alex (Ariel Winter), will be going off to college and will be facing the difficulties of being away from the family. Phil (Ty Burell) and Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen) will also struggle with the departure of Alex. The couple will then have to deal with Luke’s (Nolan Gould) crazy teenage years in which he develops a “criminal streak.”

Apart from dealing with her kids, Claire is dealing with the pressure of becoming her father’s heir. Jay (Ed O'Neill) is advancing in age and he’s already starting to consider retiring. Part of this has been teased at the end of the sixth season when Claire struggled to decide if she will accept a job an offer from another company.

Meanwhile, Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) will find themselves in financial trouble. This has also been teased in season 6, when Mitch ended up lying to Cam when he got laid off. He thought he would get a job quickly but he found out that it was harder than he expected. When Cam suspected him of having an affair, he was forced to admit that he had been leaving the house to go to the park instead of going to work.

All this continues when “Modern Family” returns on Wednesday, September 23, at 9:00 pm on ABC.

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