Vincent Kartheiser On Pete Campbell’s Post-‘Mad Men’ Life: ‘He’s Gonna F*ck It Up’

When we last saw Pete Campbell in the Mad Men finale, he was boarding a private plane to Wichita, wife and child in tow, to embark on a new life as an executive for Learjet. He did not, as many experts predicted, get eaten by a bear, despite — and again, all the experts agree on this — the fact that he really deserved it and it would have been great. But being that he survived the show’s run and got what appeared to be a happy ending, the question then becomes, “Okay, well what ended up happening to him then?”

The Wrap caught up with Vincent Kartheiser, the actor who brought Pete Campbell to life, and got his take on the fate of Future Pete.

[T]he faux character is probably set for another real comeuppance when the (second) honeymoon period is over after he and Trudy relocated to the Midwest for his new job.

“Pete’s gonna f-ck it up,” Kartheiser said. “Pete’s gonna get out to Indiana and do something stupid with one of his daughter’s schoolmate’s mothers.”

Now, technically, Wichita is in Kansas, so either Kartheiser made an innocent mistake or has developed a very elaborate post-show life for Pete that involves a move to Indiana at some point. But more importantly, yes, of course Pete will mess things up. It’s what Pete does. He’s going to buy an expensive new car, and then his fancy new automatic windows won’t work properly, and then he’ll throw a total tantrum about how he was supposed to be the King of Manhattan and not some lowly Midwestern middleman, and then he’s going to commit adultery and get punched in the face during a parent-teacher conference. If you close your eyes, you can picture the whole thing.

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