Jon Hamm Set to Join 2025 ATX TV Festival for ‘Mad Men’ Retrospective

Grab your favorite cocktail and cigarette and book a ticket to Austin, TX for May 29-June 1, 2025 because Don Draper will be in the building for the 14th season of the ATX Television Festival.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the “Mad Men” series finale, “Person to Person,” actor/producer Jon Hamm will be on hand to discuss his most iconic role and the staying power of the show over this last decade. Hamm played Draper in Matthew Weiner’s 1960s-set workplace drama for seven seasons, garnering an Emmy and two Golden Globes, and creating a television character that exists within the pantheon of great antiheroes such as Tony Soprano and Walter White.

In addition to Hamm’s “Mad Men” Retrospective, ATX TV Festival will also host “Suits” stars Patrick J. Adams and Sarah Rafferty for a live recording of their Sirius XM podcast “Sidebar: A ‘Suits’ Watch Podcast.” The audio series tracks the experience of Adams and Rafferty as they do an inaugural watch of the now hit legal drama they each starred in for multiple seasons. Each episode, they take listeners back to their time on set, answer sent-in questions, and interview fellow cast members to discuss stories from behind-the-scenes. “Suits” has seen a resurgence in viewership over the last two years thanks to its streaming availability on Netflix and Peacock. A new spin-off of the series entitled “Suits: LA” starring Stephen Amell is set to premiere on NBC in February.

Echoing their celebration of Norman Lear at this year’s festival, ATX is bringing back their Script Readings series for 2025 with classic episodes from “The Golden Girls” and “Designing Women.” Both shows ran from the mid-’80s to the early ’90s and featured a cast of four women banding together to support one another in the midst personal issues, societal struggles, and comic mishaps. Guest actors for the reading have not been announced, but last year’s cast list included Katey Sagal (“Married with Children,” “Sons of Anarchy”), Phil Rosenthal (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Somebody Feed Phil”), Danny Pino (“Cold Case,” “Law & Order: SVU”), and Dulé Hill (“The West Wing,” “Psych”). Following the readings will be a discussion on the cultural impact of “The Golden Girls” and “Designing Women,” both as female-led comedies and shows that took on a range of social issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, HIV/AIDS, aging, sex education, divorce, and mental health.

Previously announced programs include a reunion with the EPs and cast of HBO’s existential drama “The Leftovers,” featuring Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Ann Dowd, and more, a 10th anniversary retrospective of the reality TV-focused dramedy “UnREAL” presented by A+E studios, a panel from “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking” co-creator Bill Lawrence, as well as an acting class from master thespian Henry Winkler and a script reading with horror aficionado Mike Flanagan.

Badges and passes for the 2025 ATX Television Festival are available now and submissions for the annual pitch competition are being accepted now through January 17, 2025.