Gold Standard: ‘Mad Men’s’ Jessica Pare on Megan’s future: Space or spaghetti

Last we saw Jessica Pare’s Megan Draper, she was hanging up the phone with Don, their roller coaster marriage apparently kaput, and staring out into the Laurel Canyon distance, probably wondering whether she could throw together another righteous party with her Hollywood friends that night.

Is it really over? Pare stopped by The Times’ TV stage recently to dish on the Drapers’ bicoastal marriage, indicating that temperament as much as distance drove the two apart. That and that awkward threesome they “enjoyed” (hey, Megan at least was trying) and Megan’s decision to leave advertising (no bean-selling for her) and follow her dream into acting.

And, yes, Pare believes that Megan is a fine actress, capable of a nice career long after the ink on the divorce papers dries. The question is: How much will we see of Megan on the show’s final seven episodes? And what will she be doing? We suggested maybe Don will come out to California on business and see that Megan has landed a role in a great play (“Matthew, are you listening?” Pare teased, in a nod to “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner.)

What other things could Megan be up to?

“Well, space exploration, obviously,” Pare says, smiling. “It’s happening. And she makes a lot of spaghetti. She throws it at the wall. She makes it for the kids. She makes a lot of spaghetti.”

So look for Megan at Cape Canaveral ... or the Old Spaghetti Factory. And watch our conversation in the video above to tide you over until the show returns for its final seven episodes next year.

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