More than 2,000 ultimate TV fans and die-hard “Mad Men” fanatics packed the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Friday night to hear the Emmy Award-winning show’s cast discuss the upcoming season.
Known as the ultimate TV fan festival, Paleyfest celebrates the best in television and is hosted over two weeks, during which the production and cast members for more than a dozen TV shows visit to discuss past and future seasons.
This year’s Paleyfest featured “American Horror Story” and “Community,” to name a few.
After a short introduction by creator Matthew Weiner, fans watched “In Care Of,” the sixth season finale that aired in June 2013.
As the anticipation grew, fans applauded and screamed as seven cast members, one-by-one, came onstage.
Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Jessica Paré were among the cast members who shed insight on the show’s impressive six-season run so far.
Moderated by TV Guide’s Michael Schneider, the panel discussion offered valuable insight into the enigma of the past six seasons. One interesting piece of information came when Hamm told the audience that the cast will begin shooting the next seven episodes for the second part of the seventh season on Friday.
The first episode of seven in the first part of the seventh season will air in less than a month.
Although it has been universally loved and approved by fans and critics, cast members said “Mad Men” was perpetually in threat of getting cancelled. Now that the end is near, many, including Hamm, expressed their feelings on the bittersweet farewell.
“Emotionally, we’re in some phase of grief, which is probably denial,” Hamm said, according to Rolling Stone. “We are collectively realizing that the end is coming, and there’s no way to prepare for it.”
One of the night’s strangest moments came when a fan asked the cast a question about silence being used to convey emotion in the show. Instead of responding to the question, Hamm appropriately engaged in a staring contest with Schneider.
The hilarious exchange, which lasted almost 90 seconds, had the audience keeling over with laughter.
On April 13, the final season of “Mad Men” will premier on AMC.
Last season, fans watched as Don Draper, portrayed by Jon Hamm, further cascaded downwards. A failed move to Los Angeles, problems with his estranged children and changes at work left Draper at rock bottom.
Meanwhile, Peggy Olson, played by Golden Globe award-winning actress Elizabeth Moss, has just seen her lover and co-worker accept an offer to work in Los Angeles, thus ending their romantic fling.
The sixth season also saw Peter Campbell, played by Vincent Kartheiser, further isolate himself from friends and family. At the end of the season, Campbell visits his daughter for the last time before heading to California with some of the other advertising executives.
Campbell was at the center of many hilarious and embarrassing moments in the sixth season.
When Campbell traveled to Detroit, he unwittingly drove a Chevy Camaro in reverse and caused damaged inside the General Motors headquarters. When Bob Benson, played by James Wolk, revealed he had feelings for Campbell, fans couldn’t help but be surprised.
A new change in season seven could bring Campbell back to form.
The biggest question that has not been answered involves the failing marriage between Don and Megan Draper, played by Jessica Pare. Will Don Draper divorce his second wife?
The final season of 14 episodes will air over two years, with the last seven airing in spring 2015.