In case you weren’t aware, the sixth season of “Mad Men” is mere weeks away, which means everyone at the office is going to be talking about the latest escapades of Don Draper until you want to burn your computer down when the inevitable cocktail theme party Evite arrives. But oddly enough, one long-axed character from the show continues to endure: Sal. Played by Bryan Batt, he was the lovable, flaming (and closeted) illustrator who was shockingly fired from Sterling Cooper during season three, never to appear on the show again. And while some continue to hold out hope he’ll be back, don’t count on it.
“More than with any other character, I’ve had lots of conversations about that,” creator/writer/director Matthew Weiner told The Wall Street Journal. “I wanted to tell the story of how incredibly unfair it was for Sal, and that’s the sacrifice I made. It’s a gigantic moment in the series.”
But frankly, Weiner seems to be tiring of talking about it and basically, if you miss Sal so much, go hang out with your DVD collection. “If you liked the first season so much, go watch it again,” Weiner advises. “You cannot have bacon at every meal. I got that from David Chase. You’ll burn out that way.”
So there you go and stop asking. On the one hand, you gotta hand it to Weiner for sticking to his vision and not giving into to fan service. On the other, homosexuality continues to be one of the few taboos left unexplored on the show currently (though, Weiner certainly didn’t shy away from it while Sal was in the mix of characters). Thoughts? Let us know below. [via AV Club]