The Hollywood Reporter conducted one of its most compelling Drama Actor Roundtables yet, when it hosted a bevy of television's most acclaimed leading men. Joining the chat were Michael Sheen, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, and Josh Charles, but it was Jon Hamm who dropped the biggest bomb, when asked about how he feels about the latest trend of killing off main characters.
“Well, I die,” he said, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “I think we can say that. Matt[hew Weiner] will be okay with that. Early, too. I die early.”
Wait, what? Did Jon Hamm just go ahead and spoil one of the most closely guarded secrets in the history of modern television? No, of course he didn't. Hamm has way too much respect for the show's fans and for Weiner himself to compromise the show's creative integrity like that.
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This doesn't necessarily mean that Don Draper won't kick the bucket when Mad Men eventually does come to an end next year. If he does, Hamm just hopes that it's done right. According to the actor, pulling off a main character's death is dependent “on the execution — no pun intended.”
"Mostly because it’s not expected," Hamm continued. "If you watch TV, you have these expectations of how these things are going to go, and one big expectation is that the main characters are going to be there as long as the show is,” Hamm said in reference to the sudden death of Mad Men's Lane Pryce in season five. "It wasn’t like it was a dream and he was going to come back. There was no chicanery to avoid that thing that happened. It’s incredibly effective. It’s obviously something we all deal with in real life, so it can be an effective dramatic piece of the puzzle, especially when it’s surprising.”
Watch Hamm's fake (we hope) spoiler below. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Photo: REX USA/Picture Perfect.