The Mad Men Spin-Off That The Show's Creator Rejected
Just like any beloved television show that comes to an end, audiences always hold out just a smidgen of hope that it won't be the last they see of it, even when some shows end as beautifully as they could have. That might've been the reaction for some when we parted ways with Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in 2015, and the final episode of "Mad Men" aired after seven seasons. According to the COO of Lionsgate TV, Sandra Stern, conversations had already taken place about heading beyond Madison Avenue and exploring the lives of some carefully picked characters that had crossed paths with Don, or Dick, or whatever his name was.
"When we first started negotiating with AMC, one of the things they wanted was a spin-off," Stern revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. Even if a story did unfold, though, they had decided it had to be set decades after the events of the original show. "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," Stern explained. There were options, though. Firstly, there was Don's strong-willed daughter Sally (Kiernan Shipka), and the other was one of the most dedicated employees Don ever worked with, Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss), whom he practically treated like family. Unfortunately, like a tough client at the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Advertising Agency, the show's creator, Matthew Weiner, simply wasn't buying whatever they were trying to sell.
Sally Draper and Peggy Olson spin-offs were considered
After racking their brains trying to come up with an idea for how to expand the world of "Mad Men," the concern was that time wasn't really on their side. "Sally was the one character young enough that you could see her 30 or 40 years later," Stern theorized. The other obvious choice was Don's protégé, Peggy, who eventually left him to walk her own path. "There was a time we wanted a Peggy spinoff, too, and, a la 'Better Call Saul,' a minor character going off to LA. Matt wasn't comfortable committing to a spin-off."
His reluctance was understandable after issues behind the scenes had arisen with AMC, the show's host network. Contractual issues led to a two year development gap between Seasons 4 and 5, thereby putting Weiner off exploring things any further than the show he was working on. It was because of this that neither Sally, Peggy, nor anyone else from this mad, mad world got more time in the spotlight. Instead, things ended as perfectly as they did, with the whole world getting a Coke, seemingly on Don, who smiled his way into the sunset.