AMC has greenlit season five of its three-peat Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men, but the retro advertising series' next campaign won't air until early 2012 because of ongoing contract negotiations.
"AMC has officially authorized production of season 5 of Mad Men, triggering our option with Lionsgate (Mad Men‘s production company)," the network said in a statement. "While we are getting a later start than in years past due to ongoing, key non-cast negotiations, Mad Men will be back for a fifth season in early 2012."
Mad Men has had a summer premiere for the past four seasons, but the ongoing contract dispute had made a warm weather month return in 2011 seem unlikely.
Reports indicate that series creator Matthew Weiner has objected to AMC's request to cut several minutes from each episode in order to add more commercial time and eliminate two cast members to save money.
