Jon Hamm talks life after 'Mad Men,' Bryan Cranston advice

NEW YORK, March 23 (UPI) -- Jon Hamm doesn't know what awaits him following the end of his hit AMC show Mad Men later this year.

The 44-year-old actor opened up about the end of the show and the advice he received from Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston in regards to saying goodbye to a character after many years, in the April issue of GQ magazine.

"'It's hard, man. It's hard to let it go. It'll hit you a couple of different ways at different times,'" Hamm said Cranston told him.

As for his plans for the future, the actor says losing Don Draper, the character he's played over the past eight years, has been an "eye opening experience."

"The one constant thing I've had in my career is now removed," Hamm said. "And that's an eye-opener: Are people still going to take me seriously? Am I just going to do romantic comedies for the rest of my life? What's next? And I don't know, you know? I wish I was smug enough to have had a grand plan."

But leaving the troubled character behind also has a positive side. Hamm confessed he's been "hoping for redemption, and it's not forthcoming."

"To consistently come in and be the bummer was always like, 'Oh, that's not fun,'" he said. "But at the same time, it's been like the greatest obstacle course in the world. A puzzle to figure out."

Hamm's full interview is available on GQ's website. The second half of the seventh and final season of Mad Men premieres April 5.