Jon Hamm – Man on Deck

Next summer, Jon Hamm helps breathe new life into a classic with his star turn in Top Gun: Maverick. But, after five years of surprisingly varied roles since the end of Mad Men, that’s not even the most interesting—or unexpected—Hollywood legacy he’s about to reinvigorate.

- By Jesse Will. Photographs by Carter Smith

Jon Hamm spent much of 2020 perfecting the art of “waiting it out.” Instead of touring the world to talk up Top Gun—currently slated for July 2021 after two pandemic-related premiere pushes— he took to chatting with some rabbits in his front yard. In lieu of spending long days on set, Hamm whiled away the nights catch-up Zooming with the friends he rarely saw in the Before Times. In other words: This star’s just like us!

Not for long, though. By the time “normal” life returns, Hamm will be knee-deep in reviving another classic Hollywood franchise. And if he’s not the first actor you’d peg to bring Fletch back to the big screen, you must have missed the multiple Saturday Night Live and comedy film appearances that earned him the nickname “The King of Cameos.”

But before all that can happen, the film business itself needs to grind back into production. We caught up with Hamm at his Los Angeles home this fall, just as he was preparing to be back on sets for the first time since March.

So how are you at quarantining? Is your personality set up for this?