Jon Hamm Moves From ‘Mad Men’ To New ‘Spongebob’ Role

Jon Hamm just won his first Emmy for playing Don Draper on Mad Men, and the world is wondering what he is going to do next? He’s going to guest star in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants; that’s what.

Less than a week after Hamm won his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, it was reported that he’d be taking on the new Spongebob role. Apparently, his character won’t be too far from the one he played on Mad Men.Time reported that he will voice a new character named Don Grouper, an ad executive of sorts who Mr. Krabs goes to for business advice; most likely on how to make even more money selling his famous Krabby Patties.

Spongebob Squarepants might be a Nickelodeon cartoon geared mainly towards kids, but this wouldn’t be the first time it made references that were meant for adults. In fact, the show is rumored to have originally been created with an adult audience in mind, and the humor in some of the episodes has received negative feedback from concerned parents.

Either way, it’s plain to see that there are many similarities between this Don Grouper character and the Don Draper character that Jon Hamm played for seven seasons. Hamm received a total of 12 Emmy nominations for Mad Men(eight for his acting and four for producing). U.S. Magazine said that Don Grouper will be a charming executive, working for an ad agency called Grouper, Goby & Koi in the show. The episode is expected to air sometime in 2016.

Jon Hamm said in a recent interview that he enjoys being the voice of animated characters, so it makes sense that he’d be excited to join one of Nickelodeon’s most popular animated series ever. Hamm’s previous voiceover work was for the Minions movie, which he worked on alongside Sandra Bullock. The Minions movie was released earlier this year. 44-year-old Hamm said working on Minions provided “total freedom” because he didn’t have to worry about facial expression and being on camera. Hamm concluded, “It’s more fun and it’s completely creative.”

With Mad Men officially over and just the one episode of Spongebob Squarepants having been announced, Hamm’s schedule seems pretty open for new, exciting projects. Considering Jon Hamm’s success as an actor and producer, it’s nice to see that he’s open to a variety of possibilities like voicing cartoon characters. There’s no telling what his next role will be after this one, but it will certainly be interesting to see how his career moves forward post-Don Draper.

[Image courtesy of Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty images]