'Mad Men' Star Wants to Reprise Role With Spinoff: 'I'm Not Done'
Could there be a Mad Men spinoff in the near future? As the critically acclaimed show celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, with so many other iconic TV series experiencing reboots or spinoffs, now might be an excellent time to revisit the period drama. Former cast member Kiernan Shipka told Entertainment Tonight it would be the perfect opportunity to follow up with her character Sally Draper.
"I'm not done with Sally," Shipka said. "I don't think she'd be in New York. I think she'd do L.A. ... But I'm not done with her at all." During negotiations for show creator Matthew Weiner's contract after season four, AMC officials insisted on a spinoff, even though they had no idea what kind of show they wanted.
"When we first started negotiating with AMC, one of the things they wanted was a spinoff," Lionsgate Chief Operating Officer Sandra Stern told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. "We talked about doing a contemporary one. Given the fact that [Mad Men] ends nearly 50 years ago, most of the characters would be dead. Sally was the one character young enough that you could see her 30 or 40 years later. There was a time we wanted a Peggy spinoff, too, and, a la Better Call Saul, a minor character going off to L.A. Matt wasn't comfortable committing to a spinoff."
By the end of the series, Sally was a teenager just starting to discover herself. Shipka, 22, was a child for a significant duration of the show's run and, in a 2015 interview with W Magazine, said she had finally watched the show. "I can say I'm a fan, but it's weird to watch your 6-year-old self," Shipka remarked. "Oftentimes, while I was watching, I'd forget that I was in the show." Growing up, the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star said, "So many things happened to Sally on Mad Men before they happened in my real life: My first kiss was onscreen; I got my TV period before my real period. I was prepared for everything because on Mad Men Sally was a little ahead of me. She taught me the ways of the world."
Shipka also told ET of a recent run-in with her former co-star and on-screen father, Jon Hamm, at an Oscar party "with a drink in my hand." Shipka remarked that it "was a weird thing that we had to work through. But we're on the other end of it. We speak like adults now. It's great." She added, "I always love seeing him. I've run into him so much lately. It's so funny."