Entertainment TV Scripted TV Shows The 'Mad Men' Cast Then & Now Ahead of the series' final episodes, take a look at the transformations of its stars, who share a few last thoughts on the beloved drama By Catherine Kast Catherine Kast Catherine Kast is a former editor at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2017. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 2, 2015 02:00PM EDT 01 of 05 JON HAMM AS DON DRAPER Doug Hyun/AMC; Peter Yang "I had to audition seven, eight times," Hamm told reporters in March of his journey to becoming the troubled ad exec. A "mixture of excitement and terror" is how he described his first day in-character: "Have you ever seen a puppy when somebody rings a doorbell?" he said. "They kind of wag all of their bodies, and they pee on the floor. There's such a mixture of excitement and terror and awe and wonder and hope and fear." 02 of 05 JANUARY JONES AS BETTY FRANCIS Carin Baer/AMC; Peter Yang The actress told PEOPLE that she was the "big crier" on set during the final days as the always-glam housewife in season 7. "I think I had one of the last scenes of the day," she said. "[I was] just asking for more takes because I knew it was the last time that I would ever speak for her." 03 of 05 CHRISTINA HENDRICKS AS JOAN HARRIS Carin Baer/AMC; Peter Yang "The reason I loved playing her is because she is incredibly real," a newly strawberry-blonde Hendricks told PEOPLE of the sexy secretary-turned-agency partner. "She learned from her mistakes … but also was so vulnerable and sometimes got her heart broken. And sometimes she was a good friend and sometimes she was a gossip, you know? She was just a real person. We all are all those things." 04 of 05 ELISABETH MOSS AS PEGGY OLSON Craig Blankenhorn/AMC; Peter Yang The actress came into playing the rising advertising star with a wide-open mind ("Peggy was naïve and uneducated in that world that I figured it would be better if I remained uneducated," she said) and a funny throwback career moment: an Excedrin commercial. "They kept renewing it so it ran forever, which was great!" she said. "It supported me for a while." 05 of 05 JOHN SLATTERY AS ROGER STERLING Carin Baer/AMC; Peter Yang What the actor will miss most from his time as the snappily dressed exec is "just playing somebody who is so able to turn a phrase the way Roger was able to," he said. "Size up a moment and let fly with something funny." And it turns out that quick wit is the quality he thinks he shares with his on-screen persona. "I can tell a pretty good joke," he revealed. "TV is like that, they see that you can tell a joke and then they write you jokes." Close