![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-1_kct5sj](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/QVXSOFM6BZJ7NCLADK5JXJYSPY.jpg?auth=a3add9fa617cb15d4c222000a51881c7b7e7a0f39756448fa177f42c8fc426c8&width=800&height=1200)
In plotting Season 2, was there anything that came up that was surprising or unexpected?
Weiner: “A lot of things are unexpected. I have ideas of what I want to happen but how it happens is something that happens on an episode-by-episode basis. When I realized about halfway through the season that Duck [Mark Moses] was going to take over the company, I knew there was going to be a showdown between Don and Duck but I didn’t realize it was going to be because Roger [ John Slattery] was getting divorced, and that was a pretty amazing experience to realize that. And something we set up in Season 1, that Don didn’t have a contract, that was going to be the thing that saves him in a way. Those were things that were built into the show that I hadn’t counted on.”
Carin Baer / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-2_dyngil](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/WMNOVVZGJVKBDNM7X3TBCKQC6E.jpg?auth=43e15ff5d05f05fb0dde2ded296fcfbeac25c4fa7c8e051878109ca9d87cfa91&width=800&height=1200)
How deeply do you outline the season before breaking the scripts?
Weiner: “I try to have a path for what I want to happen thematically and literally for each of the characters. I knew with Peggy that she had gone through this pregnancy unaware, delivered this baby, and had gotten rid of it. Then I realized… that you can’t just move on from something like that... I knew that the priest’s job was both to provide a kind of romantic subtext and also that he would be driving her to deal with this problem and confess... But how those things happen, how you visit them each week and how they accelerate in one episode and then are dormant afterward, that’s something that happens as you’re breaking the story.”
Carin Baer / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-3_fgxbbt](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/RGT4FBHJW5JXJPMAYYBQPZ4XJI.jpg?auth=469a879a27d0e8cc35d35f4e98c60b11071ff79244344ddeaeb41dd7ad5f29bb&width=800&height=1152)
Is it strange to be competing against yourself four times over in the writing category?
Weiner: “It’s hard to think of something bad about it. It’s strange because I could lose and that would be really a bummer. I’m thrilled that people like the scripts so much because we worked really hard on them. I’m very proud of the writing of the show and I was thrilled to be recognized that way. “I think they’re all really solid… The [second season] finale is such a big payoff. I’m proud of the mood we set in that script [“Mediations in an Emergency”] and recapturing a historic event that people experienced and knew about… I’m very proud of that.”
Carin Baer / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-4_id29jy](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/YNRRCGASGROLHP2VUZS2DYX5XI.jpg?auth=f3d5047abaabdddbf43ae9c197f693f9373f2c8e92b279432247acebc8602eb5&width=800&height=560)
Three of your actors—Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, and John Slattery—are nominated. What about Mad Men’s second season enabled so many outstanding performances?
Weiner: “I feel like all of the actors on the show are worthy of recognition... they are really gifted actors. I think Christina Hendricks had a very meaty year. Obviously, January Jones had a spectacular [season]; we gave her a lot of material and she showed her depth and ability as an actor... Elisabeth Moss committing as an actress first season to gaining weight… and just becoming that character, Vincent Kartheiser is so deep into that character and so believable as that person that’s so specific. The Emmys are a recognition body and I love that these people were recognized but Robert Morse, a lot of our guest stars, Joel Murray, Mark Moses… I really feel like all of them deserve recognition.”
Carin Baer / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-5_jtm1ki](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/ZUM37VLQCRJGJORJ5TBXNWMMFQ.jpg?auth=2ae739ca841af9058b149119b42d05bd7ada3009da3cb57084b6ac5997021cd0&width=800&height=944)
One could argue that your cast could fill all of the Emmy nomination slots single-handledly.
Weiner: “I’ve been lucky enough to have this experience twice in my life where I write things—and I’m counting The Sopranos—and give it to the cast and it’s better than I imagined it. They’re just really smart actors. We don’t have a lot of discussion of what things mean and their interpretation of what’s on the page. It’s always surprising to me to feel like it’s real and it’s a style of acting that’s not as obvious, there’s not a lot of screaming and yelling that a lot of us associate with really intense acting. But there’s a level of reality. Someone said the other day what Jon Hamm does with silence it’s very brave and it’s very intense. There’s a lot of ability and talent from these people.”
Frank Ockenfels / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-6_xxphn0](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/EWPWKMWQUBMLJMXXFL5O4RLPCU.jpg?auth=f2133e9566f779bf9e68244cb94d4cf15084b788065866e223a5d08ac45342fb&width=800&height=1065)
What is it about Jon Hamm as an actor that impresses you most?
Weiner: “There are two things that are really impressive and they seem like opposite sides of the coin. One of them is that the guy works every day, like 16 hours a day and is doing these scenes one after each other and it’s not just things that regular people are afraid of like learning lines but the emotional toll that it takes to be in these intense scenes. As intense, funny, and athletic as he is, that’s just very impressive to me from a technical standpoint. But as an actor, he’s just superb and really intelligent and he understands... there’s always something extra that he brings to it and I can’t put my finger on it but it allows Don to be a more complicated person than he would be from just writing him.”
Frank Ockenfels / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-7_bovoyu](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/TSN5TPX4NRPBHJPHNPTBJXSMLM.jpg?auth=6402a4666df980e2c26e80aba7f55c3834428faac47e70acf4665a5fe0b10ccc&width=800&height=560)
We see Peggy transform from a determined but naïve girl into a female executive in the second season. What is it about Elisabeth Moss’ performance that makes this transformation so believable and nuanced?
Weiner: “Elisabeth has the ability to be both beautiful and really quite plain at the same time, you can see her thinking about things but at the same time you see her being very impulsive. When you watch her perform and you watch other actors perform with her, there’s an immediacy to what she does that makes it believable. No matter how extreme the turns are in the story, you get the feeling of a transformation. There’s someone there who’s both really knowing and adult and intelligent and who is also a young woman who is emotional and insecure and those are the two things that go into making that change believable.”
Frank Ockenfels / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-8_kbt4mu](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/QJARK2WKI5JZZDI6JC2CNK35LU.jpg?auth=beac553adb258464f1984ee0c6ab0bad7ec1845dd69e5297c5659abf30af8e29&width=800&height=1130)
One of the most shocking moments of Season 2 was Joan’s [Christina Hendricks] rape. Thematically, what did that represent in terms of Joan’s character?
Weiner: “This is a woman with incredible confidence, incredible skills, who has chosen a way a life that is not professional, even though that’s where she seems to excel. It was drawn from real life and the writers in the room felt that this was the kind of man that she wanted and the same time he was not up to dealing with how strong she was. In a way, this woman is being punished for her sexual confidence and her professional confidence. That was an interesting story for me. I’ve heard a lot of things and read a lot of things from women in that era and [rape] seems to be a big part of it. As painful and as shocking as it was, it felt like it was really a lie to pretend that really didn’t happen.”
Frank Ockenfels / AMC![galleries/2009/09/14/mad-men/mad-men-9_c50vcf](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/XMUHTZ4XTZOHHCPYWWTKPQXM6A.jpg?auth=dad31fb5ccd26b1be0981ba2c13ed7aad8f8dcac8758c3e482f6da4e08fbb5ee&width=800&height=560)
Do you have an ending in mind for the series, whether that be five or 10 seasons down the line and has that ending changed over the course of shooting the last three seasons?
Weiner: “I never thought that I would be doing this beyond the pilot and I am so grateful that I had an ending for the first season and now the second and the third. I’d like to believe that there’s a logical extension to what happens in these people’s lives but I don’t really have anything beyond a final image in my head. That hasn’t changed.”
Carin Baer / AMC