--- description: The creator of the AMC drama opened up about the show's future and Sunday's mid-season finale in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter title: 'Mad Men' creator talks about the show's future image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Mad Men_ Creator Explains Sunday's Mid-Season Finale  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 27, 2014 2:54 PM CUT  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 27, 2014 2:54 PM CUT If you’re still trying to make sense of all that happened this season on _Mad Men_, creator Matthew Weiner [finally has a few answers for you](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/mad-men-matthew-weiner-talks-707107 "undefined"). After Sunday’s mid-season finale — _Mad_ _Men_ returns for its final seven episodes in 2015 — Weiner spoke with _The Hollywood Reporter_ about writing the last episodes, the evolution of his characters and what really went on with Ginsberg. The [full interview](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/mad-men-matthew-weiner-talks-707107 "undefined") is worth a read, but here are the most enlightening excerpts: **On hallucinations**: “I don’t want to do it all the time, but it is the language of the show. It’s as old as the flashback … For me, I’m a person who frequently sees things that aren’t there. I don’t know if they’re as elaborate as that, but I don’t question the reality of the emotion.” **On Bert Cooper’s musical send-off:** “I never thought it would happen, actually. I know who \[Robert Morse\] is. I knew who he was when I hired him. It’s part of why I hired him. We were really dodging it the first two seasons, in our fictional 1961 and 1962, because Robert was a gigantic star on Broadway at the time.” **On how Don Draper has changed:** “You’re surprised and worried about whether he can stick it out and not self-destruct, not drink his way out of it, embarrass everyone or be selfish … Peggy earned her real confidence, because it wasn’t given to her, and Don behaved with — I wouldn’t call it maturity — integrity on a pretty large scale.” **On Ginsberg:** “He’s a delusional schizophrenic. That’s not a disease that’s a cause and effect disease. I don’t know how much we know about it, but there are triggers and anyone who has been paying attention to the story can see that he’s been wrestling with that.” **On the series finale:** “I’m in the office today finishing the series finale. I start directing episode thirteen, the second to last, next week. It’s pretty heavy stuff.” \[[_THR_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/mad-men-matthew-weiner-talks-707107 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/118988/mad-men-matthew-weiner-finale/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/118988/mad-men-matthew-weiner-finale/"},"headline":"Mad Men Creator Explains Sunday's Mid-Season Finale","datePublished":"2014-05-27T14:54:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:03:27.189Z","description":"The creator of the acclaimed AMC drama opened up about the show's future and Sunday's mid-season finale in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter","url":"https://time.com/118988/mad-men-matthew-weiner-finale/","keywords":["Television","Mad Men"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/118988/mad-men-matthew-weiner-finale/","name":"Mad Men Creator Explains Sunday's Mid-Season Finale"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Scenes of 'Mad Men'","description":"TIME gained rare access to the set of 'Mad Men' before its final season. TV critic James Poniewozik narrates. Photographs by Alex Majoli.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/iDVLbkAz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-19T21:19:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iDVLbkAz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/118988/mad-men-matthew-weiner-finale/","duration":"PT3M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/118988/mad-men-matthew-weiner-finale/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```