Lily Tucker-Pritchett is one character Modern Family fans got to watch grow up in front of the camera as she went from a toddler to a high school student over the course of the show. Like the other kids on the show, Lily went through a ton of changes over the years as she grew and learned who she was. The initial change might have been due to a change in actors, but it was a necessary change. The first two seasons of the series featured Ella and Jaden Hiller as an infant Lily. Aubrey Anderson-Emmons took over the role for the rest of the show.
Modern Family's Lily Tucker-Pritchett went from being the adorable baby that Cameron dressed up in costume to a spunky teen. From school sleepovers to first dates, Lily's transformative years were relatable for viewers. Unlike Alex and Haley Dunphy, Lily went from being an outgoing kid who was close to her extended family to a shy teenager who stayed to herself. From adorable moments with her dads to complicated moments that didn't always make the most sense for her character, Lily was one of the most endearing characters on the sitcom. It's been rewarding for long-time fans to watch Lily grow up in Modern Family.
Season 1: Welcome To The Family!
In the first season of Modern Family, Lily was just a baby. Cam and Mitch had just adopted her from Vietnam and were nervous to introduce her to Mitchell's family in the first episode. As diehard fans know now, the Pritchett clan can be judgmental, and Mitch wasn't ready for rude comments from his dad, Jay. However, the family welcomed Lily with open arms and was excited to watch her grow after Cam decided to plan a Lion King-inspired reveal of Lily at a family dinner.
Because Lily is a baby in the first season, she doesn't contribute to a ton of storylines, but the adults love to lavish her with attention. She's not yet two years old when adopted by Cam and Mitchell, so the focus on Lily increases as she grows throughout the show. Claire and Phil's three children get the bulk of the attention of the younger generation in the first season. Season 1, however, does mark the start of Cam as a stay-at-home dad and dres Lily for photoshoots, which becomes a big part of their closeness.
Season 2: A Close Bond With Gloria
In the second season, Lily was now walking and interacting with the family. Gloria took a special liking to Lily because she always wanted to have a little girl. With Lily, Gloria could finally spoil a little girl and treat her like she was her own. In "Someone To Watch Over Lily," Mitch and Cam were deciding who to choose as a legal guardian for Lily if anything happened to them. And after seeing her connection to Gloria, they chose Jay and Gloria to be her guardians. Oddly enough, Gloria and Lily's connection drifted as time went on and became one of Modern Family's dropped storylines, which didn't make too much sense after seeing what their bond used to be.
Much of the storylines surrounding Lily in season two of Modern Family concern things outside the character's control. As a toddler who hasn't grown to make her own decisions just yet, she doesn't call the shots in things like whether there's a hyphen between Tucker and Pritchett in her name, which becomes a major story point in one episode.
Season 3: The Star Of The Show
The third season was the first season of Modern Family that Lily's personality really started to shine. Fans of Lily don't want to skip these episodes because it was a time when she was a little older and was able to joke and talk with her family . In this season, Lily was a ray of sunshine running around Disneyland and learning how to be #FarmStrong while in Wyoming. At this stage in the series, her cousins loved watching over her, and she was fun to have around because she was learning from her family .
This season in particular highlights a lot of common parenting struggles for Mitch and Cam. They have to learn how to get Lily to stay with them at a theme park when she learns how to run and end up having to rely on Jay for a solution. Likewise, they also have to deal with growing pains like Lily learning to use profanity because she notices it makes her dads laugh, or Lily having to learn to share with others because she's been the only child in her house. The storylines are relatively common in ones involving young children in media, but Modern Family keeps them fresh and funny.
Season 4: Sassy & Jealous
In the fourth season, Lily's sassy side began to shine. With sarcastic and dramatic dads, Lily learned a thing or two from Mitch and Cam. She shifted from favoring Cam to favoring Mitchell, which deeply upset Cam. He had an amazing bond with Lily, and he wasn't ready for her to grow up, but he has to be prepared for that as she starts school in season four of Modern Family.
Things did begin to shift for Lily in this season, however, because she was no longer the youngest in the family. Gloria and Jay had little Joe, which made Lily a little jealous of all the attention he was getting. She also began to learn more about the fact that she's been adopted. Her fathers tried to teach her about Vietnam, where she's from, but as they don't know much about the country either, it led to some conflict. Ultimately, Lily's antics made the family laugh more than they get her in trouble during the season, and that's true for the audience as well. It can be hard for a sitcom to have a young child in the cast and keep their storylines entertaining, but Modern Family's Lily did it well.
Season 5: Small But Mighty
Season five was a big one for Lily. She traveled to Australia with her family, her dads got married, and she had her first crush! This was also the season where fans saw a bond form between Lily and Alex. In "Farm Strong," Alex babysat Lily and tried to spark an interest in literature. As an ensemble cast, Alex wasn't the main character but having someone else in the family who enjoyed school would have been nice for her. Lily wasn't too interested, but as time went on, Mitch and Cam found out that Lily was brilliant enough to skip a grade. So, it looked like Alex had a bigger impact on Lily than she realized during this time.
Because of the variety of storylines in season 5 of Modern Family, Lily got to spend time with a lot more of the extended family. Prior to the season, many of her bigger scenes were with her dads or Gloria, and sometimes, Haley or Claire. In addition to spending time with Alex, Lily also got to know Manny a little bit better, as well as Manny's little brother Joe, though she did start to lie this season, blaming Joe for things she did. It marked a new stage in growing up for Modern Family's Lily.
Season 6: Finding Her Individuality
Season six was all about Lily finding her individuality. In "Three Turkeys," Lily got into an argument with her dads over what was suitable to wear for the holiday. She opted for multiple layers with a dress on top, which her dads loathed. But Lily didn't care. Her individuality made her one of the most likable characters as she grew throughout Modern Family.
In "The Big Guns," Cam tried getting Lily interested in becoming a clown and sent her to clown school. Lily hated being a clown but did it because it made Cam happy. Showing how creative Lily was, the little girl actually went over the top with her slapstick performances all the time, hoping Cam would tire of them. Eventually, she came clean to Mitch that she thought clowns were "weird" and didn't want to go to clown school anymore. It was one of the first times fans saw Lily stand up for herself.
Season 7: Lily Found Her Voice & Her Confidence
In the seventh season, Modern Family's Lily was now making friends at school and playing soccer. She bonded with Phil in "She Crazy" when he started looking after ducks, and she ed a Vietnamese dance class to meet other girls with the same heritage. By spending more time with her family and other girls her age, Lily's personality really started to shine. She created a better sense of chemistry with those around her. Her protective side, especially, came out when her Aunt Pam came to stay with them for a little while. Although she loved Pam, she found her dramatics tiring.
This season also meant that Lily was old enough to get drawn into the antics of the other kids in the series. Luke and Manny, who were supposed to be babysitting her in one episode, rope her into helping them throw a party that got all three of them in trouble. Beyond getting in trouble with her cousins and Manny, however, Lily also began to understand that she could stand up to others even if they weren't being mean to her.
This was showcased in an episode in which the most popular girl in school was one of her guests, and everyone else only wanted to do whatever the other girl wanted to do. Lily learned early that she didn't have to do what the popular kids were doing to enjoy herself, and stood up to the other girl. That strength had been in Lily since season 3 started giving her lines, but it would also provide continuity for her character arcs later in the series.
Season 8: Brave & Determined
In the blink of an eye, Lily was a pre-teen in season eight. She stood up for her dads in "A Stereotypical Day" when a classmate of hers called her parents weird. She also tried protecting what was hers when Cameron allowed one of his student-athletes to live in their home without talking it over with her, which was a toxic move on Cam's part. She reminded her dads that she had a voice and should have a say in the household. For being so young, she was brave and determined in the eighth season.
Lily also demonstrated a better understanding of the people around her in season 8 than she was given credit for in earlier seasons. When Haley and Alex tried to teach Lily about feminism, for example, she called them on their hypocrisy as neither of them knew how to change a tire when they got a flat tire. She also showed that she knew exactly how to get on the good side of her fathers when she made them grilled cheese sandwiches to butter them up so that she could keep a pet chicken. Lily wasn't above manipulating her family, something she had done since an early age, but with good intentions in season 8.
Season 9: Those Dreaded Teenaged Years
In the ninth season, Lily had become a full-blown teenager. She was no longer spending so much time with her dads and doing photoshoots with Cam. She now wanted to hang out with her friends, be alone in her room, or listen to music on her own. In "Daddy Issues," Lily was going through puberty and was ready for her first bra but didn't know how to talk about it with her dads. She found these topics of discussion difficult because they themselves didn't know how to approach them. She ended up stealing a bra and getting into an argument at school, which was a red flag for Mitch and Cam.
Because Lily had a few rebellious moments throughout the season, Mitch and Cam realized they needed to step their game up to keep up with their growing daughter. Not only did they attempt to take a more active role in her growth, like they did when she was younger, but they also enlisted Alex to help them teach Lily about the changes she's going through as a teenager. That's when the storylines of Lily's rebellious stage virtually ended since she felt more understood by her family.
Seasons 10 & 11: Transforming Into A Young Adult
In the final seasons of Modern Family, Lily had come into her own. She was now in high school, going on dates, Lily even had some sassy quotes, and had a good head on her shoulders. Cam and Mitch were still learning about their ever-changing teenager and tried keeping up with her interests. They found that every time they worried about Lily making a bad decision, like Lily attending a party with no adult supervision, she made the right choice and talked to them about it after. The final seasons of the show proved that Lily had some of the best growth in the show, learning from her own mistakes where she lied or was selfish as a child to become a well-adjusted young adult.
The family grew closer when Cam took a job in Missouri and planned on transporting the family. What's better is that Cam and Mitch adopted a sibling for Lily, a baby boy named Rexford. It was the perfect ending for Lily and her dads in Modern Family.
