Few TV deaths have resonated like Lane Pryce’s on Mad Men. The stiff British partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce went out in Season 5, leaving fans shaken and emotional. Jared Harris, who brought Lane to life, recently spilled how he first got the news about his character’s exit and how creator Matthew Weiner crafted the shocking send-off.
Jared Harris on how he discovered Lane Pryce would die in Mad Men
On Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, Harris shared how Matthew Weiner broke the news about Lane’s fate in a low-key, almost casual way. “I thought, ‘Oh s—, have I done something? What’s going on?” Harris recalled that Weiner kicked things off by talking about the weather, then casually saying that he was killing his character.
“I’m really sorry. I’m not firing you. I’m writing the character off. But it’s a great episode. It’s a really great scene.” The unforgettable Lane Pryce scene had him trying to kill himself in his new Jaguar, a gift from his wife Rebecca (Embeth Davidtz). However, the car wouldn’t start. Harris recalled that when he heard about the car not starting, he couldn’t contain his laugh.
“When he told me the joke bit about [how] the Jaguar won’t start, I fell off my chair laughing. Because I knew it was a brilliant setup,” Harris remembered. That moment fooled viewers into thinking Lane might make it, only for him to head back to the office and tragically hang himself.
“He’s an incredible writer because that joke, the Jaguar not starting, made you think it wasn’t gonna happen. Lane wasn’t gonna kill himself. So he set it up that he’s gonna kill himself, then he gives you a fakeout so you think that’s been paid off, and then when he’s hung himself, which he’s told you all along is gonna happen, you’re still surprised,” Harris said, talking about Weiner.
Lane’s arc showcased his simmering frustration as the only SCDP partner who didn’t cash in on the new ad agency. Even though he was a hard worker and had big ambitions, he constantly felt overlooked and underappreciated. This fed his sense of failure. Harris loved how Weiner played it, making Lane’s exit shocking but heartbreakingly perfect.
Originally reported by Rishabh Shandilya on ComingSoon.
