'Mad Men' Cast To Enter (Final?) Contract Negotiations

Where "Mad Men" now stands in its lifespan, some principal stars' next contract sit-downs will probably be the last, Deadline speculates.

Having just wrapped a stellar fifth season this past spring long delayed by combined network negotiations with creator Matthew Weiner and a priority placed on producing a second season of "The Walking Dead," Lionsgate Television executives now look to lock in several key cast members for what are speculated to be the series' final two seasons.

With Jon Hamm having signed a 2011 three-year, eight figure contract that will see him through the seventh season, that leaves Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell), January Jones (Betty Francis), Christina Hendricks (Joan Harris) and Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson) finishing one last meal at the bargaining table. Deadline claims Hendricks' deal remains to be finalized.

The others, meanwhile, reportedly have two-year deals agreed to in principle, with i's to be dotted and t's crossed. All are alleged to be receiving substantial pay hikes into six figures, especially Hendricks, who the series has made practically iconic as a figure whose voluptuous figure and scene-stealing charms have made her a contemporary-icon throwback to the show's setting's classic beauties. For that matter, Jones has done damn well parlaying her own stardom, earning a role as Emma Frost in the 20th Century Fox Marvel reboot "X-Men: First Class" in 2011.

Weiner has further suggested through previous interviews that Moss will highly visible this coming season, making her a very key "get."

Negotiations once seemed like they might bring the Emmy-lauded drama to one unfortunately early end. Luckily, that didn't come about and we merely endured a major delay. The rumors out of these negotiations strike encouraging notes, though. It's difficult - and unsettling - to try and imagine the show ending without the principles who began it, especially Moss, who was a central focus of the pilot.