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'Modern Family' season finale birth shows how the series has come full 'circle'

The episode included a really clever blast from the past!
/ Source: TODAY

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.

JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, ERIC STONESTREET
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.

ED O'NEILL, SOFIA VERGARA, JEREMY MAGUIRE, TY BURRELL, AUBREY ANDERSON-EMMONS, JULIE BOWEN, ARIEL WINTER, ERIC STONESTREET, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, REID EWING, SARAH HYLAND
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.