Modern Family's Baby Lily Recast: 8 Big Ideas

Matt Webb Mitovich

That which TVLine first told you about way back in February has come to fruition: Modern Family is pulling the trigger on a Lily recast, as Cam and Mitch’s bambino gets aged up a bit for Season 3. The casting call (cited by E! Online) seeks tykes to play “Asian, 3- to 4-year-old” Lily, but if you ask us, when dealing with a hit like Modern Family, there’s a primo opportunity here to widen the net and go big. For example….

JASON DOHRING | Nary a single Armchair Casting Director session comes up where the name of this beloved Veronica Mars and Moonlight alum doesn’t get thrown into the hat. Quick with the wit, his Lily would be aces when it comes to Olsen Twin-style zingers. C’mon, Jason, give us one, “You got it, dude!”

MARGO MARTINDALE | You say you want a Lily who is not just a little older but more expressive? This Justified scene-stealer can deliver attitude in spades, up and down the holler. Just be careful when she sweetly asks Daddy for some “apple pie” for dessert….

PEYTON SAWYER SCOTT | Looking for a Lily who can cry on cue? A lot? Like, in every other episode? And using Master Class-caliber epic wails? This former resident of Tree Hill, North Carolina can bring the waterworks like no one’s business. (Remember the time Mom’s old prom dress got ruined…?)

YUNJIN KIM | Let’s see, Jin and Locke are now in Hawaii, Hurley’s at Alcatraz, Richard Alpert is dogging Sarah Michelle Gellar…. One of the few Lost alums yet to be accounted for this fall is Kim, and boy do we miss her. Mod Fam better act fast, though, before Fringe snatches her up!

PAX JOLIE-PITT | You know what’s entirely off-base with a lot of the suggestions we are making here? Not one of these actors is actually Vietnamese, as Lily is supposed to be. But that’s not the only choice lineage this lad boasts, as the child of not one but two Hollywood heavyweights.

LIZZY CAPLAN | Fierce like Margo Martindale and razor-sharp like Jason Dohring, this funky femme/Party Down alum is the complete package. Plus, ABC would get a little bit of buzz for reuniting her with her former The Class-mate, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

BETTY WHITE | Don’t give us that look. You know she’s already on their short list.

WILLIAM PETERSEN | Again in the spirit of reunions…. Years before he played Family man Cam, Eric Stonestreet toiled as CSI‘s Ronnie Litre, a lab wonk who followed boss man Gil Grissom’s every order. Well, look who’s calling the shots and in charge of nap time now, buster!

KASSIE DEPAIVA | Folks, we have a winner. For the soap opera-averse, this Southern-fried knockout stepped in as a recast of One Life to Live‘s Blair Cramer back in 1993, taking over — with not a word of on-screen explanation — for Japanese actress Mia Korf. And with OLTL‘s fate seeming, at best, iffy, the planets seem to have aligned. NuLily, meet your darlin’ daddys.