Mad Men creator Matt Weiner says he doesn’t want the series to end on a fart and reveals where the seventh and final season may take us.
ALERT!: The following piece ‘may’ contain Mad Men series finale spoilers..
Talking to Grantland, Weiner says the biggest endgame as far is he’s concerned is for people to enjoy it:
“Do I know everything that’s gonna happen? No, I don’t. But I just want it to be entertaining and I want people to remember it fondly and not think it ended in a fart.”
One non-farty idea that came to Weiner in the middle of season four was to end the series in the modern-day, with Don Draper as an ‘old fart’:
“I always felt like it would be the experience of human life. And human life has a destination. It doesn’t mean Don’s (Jon Hamm) gonna die. What I’m looking for, and how I hope to end the show, is like … It’s 2011. Don Draper would be 84 right now. I want to leave the show in a place where you have an idea of what it meant and how it’s related to you.”
Comparing the trajectory of the show to the Beatles album Abbey Road, Weiner said:
“I always talk about Abbey Road. What’s the song at the end of Abbey Road? It’s called ‘The End.’ There is a culmination of an experience of people working at their highest level. And all I want to do is not wear out the welcome..”
HT: THR
Fart jokes aside, ending Mad Men in modern times is an interesting idea. If done well it could enhance the journey. Though at which point would the series break away from its period setting — would they spend an entire season in modern times, just the final scene, or something in between?
There’s a difference between ending a serial and ending it successfully, and even then it’s all subjective. In a post Sopranos and LOST universe, the end of series clock is watched all the more closely.
What do you think about Weiner’s idea to end Men in modern times? Would it work, would it fall flat, or has he blown the surprise by letting the cat out of the bag?
Mad Men season 5 premieres on AMC in 2012.
PERSON OF INTEREST Renewed For Season 2
TERRA NOVA: Season 2 Decision Delayed Until 2012
ONCE UPON A TIME: The Comprehensive Character Guide
BREAKING BAD: Bryan Cranston Confirms Season 5 Will Premiere In July
FRINGE OBSERVATIONS: 4.22 Brave New World: Part 2
Loading ...
ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.22 A Land Without Magic
ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.21 An Apple Red As Blood
FRINGE OBSERVATIONS: 4.21 Brave New World: Part 1
ONCE UPON A TIME OBSERVATIONS: 1.20 The Stranger
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve come to just hate Mad Men. I don’t lik that we’re stuck waiting for two or three more seasons, and apparently they don’t have to have a season every year, so we might have to wait 5 years. And the show climaxed already, I don’t want a novel style “climactic middle”. They just bore me with the show now. Does anybody want any of these people to have anything, good or bad, happen in their lives? This show is just gonna have something crazy happen, unhappen the next season, kill off some people, probably fastforward a few times, and end with him talking to his kids and ex-wife as a final scene, and they probably have them doing it thirty years later.
That said I will watch every episode I possibly can. Meanwhile I actually enjoy Fringe, which is spectacular, yet languishing in the ratings, but this laborous “episodic” “stylistic” “serious” program apparently is the best show ever? It’s just a way to sell ties and hats. Period.
Like:
0
It didn’t do that on purpose. Their was a contract dispute over their budget. Mad Men wanted more money to do more with their series and make it better then ever, it just took a while and now the new season starts this March and the contract locks them in for the next 3 seasons so no more disputes.
Like:
0