‘Mad Men’ Creator On Final Season Twists: ‘The Audience Thinks They’re Invincible’

Mad Men’s final season may perhaps be the most talked about last act since the massively popular Breaking Bad bowed out with one of the most explosive series finales in television history nearly two years ago. After all, viewers have had almost eight years to get intimate with the sordid life of Don Draper and the office crew that has maintained several familiar faces despite the long lifespan of the show.

Naturally, in that time, Mad Men‘s core audience has created some expectations about the show that would be unnerving to any showrunner headed into such a closely watched final season. Matthew Weiner recently sat down with the New York Times’ Dave Itzkoff to discuss last week’s episode — remarks that may be revealing about the way that Mad Men will end in general. Matthew further explained what the events of last episode — when McCann fully absorbed Don and Co.’s firm — means for the business end of the series finale.

“I liked the idea that the audience thinks they’re invincible. They think they’re invincible, so they’re going to swing for the fences. They’ve done it before. But it’s just not an issue. It’s McCann. I don’t even know how to explain to people what that is. But it’s kind of like Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg has come in and said you’re going to be by yourself and then [later] he comes in and decides to close your doors. That’s just the way it is. You’re going to be rich and you’re going to work for Facebook.”

Following his track record for most of the life of Mad Men, Weiner was adamant that many expectations that people seem to have to have for what will ultimately play out at the end of the series doesn’t fall into place with what he has planned. The story, he says, will continue to evolve until the final season ends.

“In terms of how it figures into the story of the show, you gotta watch. I’m having a stranger experience than normal because I know that people have things they wanna see. There is a certain kind of almost petulance, ‘When’s it gonna happen, what’s gonna happen?’ I am not doing the same show every week. I’m not just gonna take these last seven episodes and do the greatest hits. We’re not going to dissolve to a frame from the pilot and play ‘Through the Years.’ I am telling a story about these characters and this is the next step in the story.”

How do you think Mad Men‘s final season is shaping up?

[Image via Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images]