As with all TV finale with even a touch of ambiguity, the “Mad Males” ending has been mentioned and debated time and again within the 10 years because it first aired. So on Saturday, Might 31, when Jon Hamm and John Slattery took half in a 10-year anniversary celebration of the collection finale at Austin’s ATX Tv Competition, it was no shock when the primary viewers query was whether or not Hamm considers Don Draper’s cliffside epiphany to be “cynical” or “optimistic” in spirit.
“I believe it will depend on how you’re feeling about… promoting,” Hamm stated, drawing amusing from the gang. “As a result of I believe actually what Don’s journey of shedding all these things and transferring so far as he can away from what was his house, which was on the alternative finish of the nation — he actually went till there was no extra land left, there was no place left to run, as distant as he may from his life, and realized that his life was creating promoting. That was his revelation. That that is what he’s and what he does. He’s not Dick Whitman, he’s not Don Draper, he’s some model of this: He’s an promoting man. And that was, I believe, optimistic.”
Earlier within the panel, which was moderated by Noah Hawley, Hamm stated essentially the most troublesome a part of taking pictures the ultimate season — which noticed his character flee New York in a protracted, solo, cross-country drive to California — was in how his emotional journey mirrored Don’s.
“The factor that almost all bummed me out was once I realized in some unspecified time in the future that Don’s going to be gone from the principle solid for like 5 episodes. I’m mainly going to not be working with this buddy group that I established over the past 10 years,” Hamm stated. “I’m going to be form of alone, working with day gamers and visitor stars — superb actors all — however individuals who I don’t know [during] this extremely emotional time that we’re ending the present. I actually had a tough time with that. After all, on reflection, I’m like, that’s excellent. What higher approach to really feel the isolation and loneliness of this character’s journey than to be like, ‘You’ve obtained no one left. You’re on the highway by your self.’”
One other viewers query — about whether or not the actors ever had any hesitancy about what their characters had been doing — led Slattery to revisit a controversial episode the place Roger Sterling wore blackface.
“I obtained a script and I needed to sing ‘My Outdated Kentucky House’ in blackface,” Slattery stated. “And I known as him [Jon Hamm], and I stated, ‘Would you do that?’ And he stated, ‘You imply, would I do it, or would I do it?’ And I believe what he meant was, ‘Look, you rode the lady in singing cowboy songs, like, the place are you going to attract the road?’”
“That was a day,” Hamm stated.
“Then once we needed to shoot the scene, I felt like sure, that is in all probability one thing that occurred and it’s in all probability one thing this character would have executed, so what leg do I’ve to face on to not do it? So I obtained all dressed up within the outfit, obtained within the van, and drove to this place and the primary one that opened the van was a really giant African-American Los Angeles motorbike cop who was serving to me open the door. We had been nose to nose, and he stood again and [looked at me]. I stated, [sheepishly] ‘Hello, how’s it going?’ after which needed to go sing that factor in entrance of him and everybody. […] So yeah, there was some protectiveness felt, however there was a motive for every little thing he needed you to do.”
When “Mad Males” made its ad-supported streaming debut in 2020, IMDB TV included a disclaimer on Season 3, Episode 3, “My Outdated Kentucky House,” which learn: “This episode comprises disturbing photos associated to race in America. One of many characters is proven in blackface as a part of an episode that exhibits how commonplace racism was in America in 1963. In its reliance on historic authenticity, the collection producers are dedicated to exposing the injustices and inequities inside our society that proceed to at the present time so we are able to look at even essentially the most painful components of our historical past to be able to mirror on who we’re in the present day and who we wish to develop into. We’re due to this fact presenting the unique episode in its entirety.”
Hamm echoed these sentiments on Saturday whereas explaining the collection’ want for “verisimilitude.”
“‘Problematic’ is a phrase that’s develop into very in vogue for good motive, as a result of a lot of the previous is problematic when considered within the lens of 2025, for positive — it’s how we study, and it’s an exquisite factor to study,” Hamm stated. “I bear in mind in some unspecified time in the future having a dialog with executives at AMC, they usually stated, ‘Have they got to smoke?’ And Matt [Weiner] was like, ‘Are you fucking kidding me? Sure. They actually must. They’re hooked on cigarettes.’”
“We needed to lean into the nice, the dangerous, and the ugly of all of it, understanding [how it will be seen] on this lens of the now. A part of it was illustration of Black folks within the ’60s. Like, why aren’t there any Black folks in right here? Effectively, there are, you simply don’t see them as a result of they weren’t seen — that’s not nice. However the verisimilitude is there.”
Different fond — and never so fond — reminiscences shared on the 75-minute panel included:
• A former highschool classmate of Hamm’s confirmed him a yearbook photograph of the 2 of them on the swim group collectively and requested if Don Draper’s distinct manner of swimming was due to the “very explicit, uncommon manner” their teacher taught them. “I imply, you don’t unlearn tips on how to swim,” Hamm stated.
• Hamm and Slattery stated, on the primary day of taking pictures “Mad Males,” there was a “useless physique” within the parking zone.
“Scene one, day one, there was a useless physique within the parking zone, however that’s a narrative for an additional day,” Hamm stated.
“That’s true,” Slattery stated. “First day of labor, a man fell off a bridge, and he was within the parking zone, face down. I noticed a foot.”
• Slattery stated when he first directed an episode of “Mad Males” (Season 4, Episode 4, “The Rejected”), Elisabeth Moss didn’t provide him the warmest of receptions.
“The primary particular person I needed to direct was Lizzie [Moss],” Slattery stated. “By this time, it was Season 4, so we had been fairly slotted as to who we had been and tips on how to play the scenes, and this was 6:30 or 7 within the morning. […] I stated, ‘So,’ and he or she checked out me and goes, ‘Ha ha ha!’ She laughed in my face. Then she goes, ‘I can’t, I simply can’t.’ And he or she walked away!”