Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has admitted that he briefly quit the show.
Weiner was involved in a dispute with AMC and Lionsgate TV, which led to the fifth season of the '60s-set drama being delayed.
"I quit, at the negotiation," the showrunner told The New York Times. "And in the end, everything worked out."
Weiner added that he had "come to terms with the fact that [Mad Men] was over" after four seasons.
"I always end every season like it's the end of the show," he explained. "There was a terror in me that someone else would come in and do it. And I don't know how they would do it, but I would have to live with that."
He added: "I did not feel that it was worth going back to work to make a show that was not the show I'd been making."
Mad Men star Jon Hamm (Don Draper) recently criticised the "billionaires" he believed to be responsible for the 18-month gap between Mad Men's fourth and fifth seasons.
"When billionaires fight, it takes a lot longer to... settle," he said. "So we had some very wealthy people determining how long we would be off the air."
Mad Men returns to AMC in the US on March 25 and will air in the UK two days later on Sky Atlantic.
