“I will walk away from this”: Jon Hamm Was Ready to Leave Mad Men at the Peak of its Hype That Was Thankfully Averted Before Doing the Damage

The mystique and fascination surrounding the A-list actor, Jon Hamm, are undeniable. He presents a quality of work that is worthy of its place at the forefront of film and television, be it a billion-dollar legacy sequel like Top Gun: Maverick or Noah Hawley’s series adaptation of Fargo.

While actors actively search for roles, for those of his caliber, it is harder to avoid offers than accepting them. In the long run, Jon Hamm is an unyielding talent, unstoppable by the nature and creativity of his work, and Hollywood (and the fans) is all the better for it.

Jon Hamm: The Man Out of Time

Noah Hawley believes that Jon Hamm looks like a man out of time. After losing his parents at a young age and jumping through all the hoops of life alone, he came out the other end with a serious problem: “I just didn’t fit. I was the guy who was 25 but looked 35. It’s like I fell between two barstools.”

But that exact trait worked to his benefit when he auditioned for the classically anachronistic and vicious world of Mad Men. Hamm’s otherworldly presence made him the perfect choice for Don Draper. His reputation as the antiheroic ad genius shrouded in mystique, allure, and dripping with sex appeal synchronized perfectly with his enigmatic non-movie-star real-life identity.

Soon after, Mad Men became as synonymous with Jon Hamm as he was with the series. The interlocked fate that the man and the show shared made it difficult not to regard him with the respect that he earned, and in turn, was owed.

Jon Hamm Threatened to Quit Mad Men Over a Grave Injustice

After struggling through life’s pains alone and not quite finding his place in the world, Mad Men came to Jon Hamm as a boon and a lifeline. He was bound to it like an anchor as much as he was grateful for the series to have launched his career. After four seasons of work, it seemed time to make some necessary changes to the routine schlock.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hamm recalled the incident:

There was definitely a moment on Mad Men where I was wildly underpaid, and that was corrected. And you go, “OK, good.” But it came with a fair amount of wrestling. I was like, “Guys, here’s the deal, I will walk away from this. You need to know that.”

It wasn’t a difficult journey from there. Although Hamm himself admitted the difficulty he faced while filming Season 4, it is widely considered the best among all seven by a vast part of the fan base and demography. Fortunately for Hamm, the quality of work never declined, and the studio execs did not mind paying the actor what he was owed (unlike Taylor Sheridan and Sons of Anarchy).

Mad Men is available to stream on AMC+