‘Mad Men’ season 7 spoilers: Matthew Weiner, Jon Hamm on Don Draper’s ‘change’

Do we now have a new Don Draper at the center of “Mad Men”? Basically, the answer to this question is somewhere between “yes” and “no.” In the closing minutes of Sunday night’s season finale, we saw something that does recognize a very clear and present change in this character in that rather than running away with Megan and avoiding his problems in Los Angeles, he decided instead that he finally had enough and faced his past.

The moment at the end of the episode with Don and his children was a big one, mostly because for the first time, he opened the door on both who he is and the way in which he grew up. In the video below, both Jon Hamm and show creator Matthew Weiner stress that this is one of the biggest revelations that Don has made in his life.

But does this mean that he will be a different man when the show returns next year? Hardly. Weiner promises that Don cannot just wake up one morning and do a complete 180, but he will start to gain a little bit of a new perspective that he will carry over into the new year.

Meanwhile, John Slattery also talks in the video about Roger’s own efforts to change, and how he gets involved with Kevin’s life as a way in which he will start to have a connection with someone that is not interested in his money. Hopefully, this story and others (a single Peggy, and a firm in limbo without Don around) will carry over into the show’s final season. Judging from what we saw here, it’s going to be a big one.

Do you think Don is going to change in this upcoming season, or are we really just kidding ourselves in thinking that the man would really show off a different side? If you want to read our full review of this finale, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: AMC