--- description: Jon Hamm talks about leaving Don Draper behind title: Here's What Bryan Cranston Told Jon Hamm About Ending 'Mad Men' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88f40a6a314e9f28/698784b106f2c1b0a9334899/461694409.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's What Bryan Cranston Told Jon Hamm About Ending _Mad Men_ by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 23, 2015 11:51 AM CUT  Actors Bryan Cranston (L) and Jon Hamm attend the 14th annual AFI Awards Luncheon Actors Bryan Cranston (L) and Jon Hamm attend the 14th annual AFI Awards LuncheonKevin Winter—Getty Images for AFI by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 23, 2015 11:51 AM CUT As AMC’s _Mad Men_ enters its final seven episodes April 5, series star Jon Hamm has been [reflecting on how it will be to end his eight-year run](http://www.gq.com/entertainment/celebrities/201504/jon-hamm-after-mad-men "undefined") as Don Draper. In the April cover story of _GQ_, Hamm revealed that Bryan Cranston, who played Walter White in AMC’s _Breaking Bad_, talked with him about the transition out of a long-term role. “It’s hard, man. It’s hard to let it go. It’ll hit you a couple of different ways at different times,” Cranston told Hamm. Hamm compared the feeling of leaving the show to graduating from high school. “The whole last season was like senior year in high school,” he said. “‘We’ll stay in touch!’ ‘I’ll text you!’ ‘We’ll see each other all the time!’ And it’s like, Will we _really?_” \[[_GQ_](http://www.gq.com/entertainment/celebrities/201504/jon-hamm-after-mad-men "undefined")\] _Read next:_ [_Watch the Nostalgic New Trailer for_ ](http://time.com/3718877/mad-men-trailer-final-season/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined")[Mad Men_’s Final Season_](http://time.com/3718877/mad-men-trailer-final-season/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3753892/jon-hamm-bryan-cranston-mad-men-breaking-bad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3753892/jon-hamm-bryan-cranston-mad-men-breaking-bad/"},"headline":"Here's What Bryan Cranston Told Jon Hamm About Ending Mad Men","datePublished":"2015-03-23T11:51:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:53.755Z","description":"Jon Hamm talks about leaving Don Draper behind","url":"https://time.com/3753892/jon-hamm-bryan-cranston-mad-men-breaking-bad/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Mad Men"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88f40a6a314e9f28/698784b106f2c1b0a9334899/461694409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88f40a6a314e9f28/698784b106f2c1b0a9334899/461694409.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"14th Annual AFI Awards - Cocktail Reception","caption":"14th Annual AFI Awards - Cocktail Reception","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images for AFI","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/3753892/jon-hamm-bryan-cranston-mad-men-breaking-bad/","name":"Here's What Bryan Cranston Told Jon Hamm About Ending Mad Men"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer","description":"Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Z2jYG2aP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-03T13:30:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Z2jYG2aP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3753892/jon-hamm-bryan-cranston-mad-men-breaking-bad/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3753892/jon-hamm-bryan-cranston-mad-men-breaking-bad/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```