Jon Hamm Shares His Thoughts on a 'Mad Men' Spinoff Centered on Sally Draper

At the 'Farewell to Mad Men' panel earlier today, Jon Hamm offered his best idea for a never-going-to-happen 'Mad Men' spinoff.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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As we all prepare ourselves for the final episode of Mad Men tonight, an increasingly large part of each of us yearns for some sort of continuation for the Draper family. An even larger part of us (or just me) seeks to drink himself into an emotional stupor, so as to take edge off the realization that the greatest TV drama of all time will never return.

Speculation surrounding the possibility of Mad Men taking the Breaking Bad route (i.e. the enormously successful spinoff Better Call Saul) has been repeatedly shot down by creator Matthew Weiner, and for good reason. As fans of a series like Mad Men, the audience has to more or less simply trust the creator's vision — a vision that likely leaves little room or need for a continuation beyond tonight's finale.

Such inevitable truths aside, Variety's Debra Birnbaum couldn't help but ask star Jon Hamm (Don Draper) to "brainstorm ideas" for a potential Mad Men spinoff at Sunday's "Farewell to Mad Men" event. Understandably, Hamm initially rejected the question — citing the same lack of need mentioned earlier and swiftly reigniting Don Draper death rumors.

From Vanity Fair:


"I think people will find when they watch tonight’s episode that the story is complete, so I think that the idea of a sequel or a prequel or an origin story or whatever longer time spent on these characters . . . I think it would be less fulfilling somehow."

With the actual response out of the way, Hamm then made himself free to embrace wishful thinking aloud.


"That said, it would be Sally. We want to watch Sally grow up and live through the '70s and turn into a rockstar and turn into, like, Joan Jett or something. You know, ride a motorcycle and kill a guy and make a bunch of money and become Oliver Stone in the '80s and then date Kurt Cobain in the '90s because she’s just so cool and she’s a touchstone for every generation. I mean, yeah, I’d watch that show. I think everyone would watch that show. Sally Through the Decades."

Jon Hamm also offered some characteristically vague though retroactively pointed thoughts on tonight's finale, specifically the fate of one Donald Draper.

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