Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has claimed that the delay of the show’s fifth season is “part of the network plan”.
He told reporters at the LA Times: The Envelope Emmy panel in Los Angeles that cable channel AMC had always intended to hold back new episodes until 2012.
“The scheduling of the show [and it] not being on this year, that’s part of the network plan,” he claimed. “[Fellow AMC series] Breaking Bad was always going on in the summer. That’s the way they do things.”
Discussing his recent contract issues with AMC, Weiner admitted that the dispute was “bad, but it worked out”.
“It was public, and there was no reason for that,” he argued. “But that’s what happens. The most important things for me are that after it’s over, I get to go back to work and that we get to do three more years of the show.”
Weiner also confirmed that the show’s writing team began work on the new run “about three weeks ago”.
“The show will be about the next part of these people’s lives and what’s going on in the world will impact them the way things impact us,” he explained.
Weiner went on to say that he was “thrilled” to have series star Jon Hamm (Don Draper) direct the upcoming fifth season premiere.
“Jon is already involved very much in every aspect of the show,” he said. “He’s on set as much as the camera is. I’m glad that he asked to do it.”