The Mad Men are preparing for the end. How exactly will the AMC series do it? Prepare yourselves, fans for anything (or nothing), as Matthew Weiner, the show's creator and showrunner, is drawing inspiration from The Sopranos' finale.

"There's an immediate reaction to it and there's a long-term reaction to it, but there was such an uproar," Weiner told The Daily Beast. "Now we know that was the perfect ending for that show, and now we know that show is in the pantheon of the greatest shows ever. Did the ending affect that? Yeah. There are good ones and bad ones. As a writer, I want to end the story the way I think the story was told."

Season 7 premieres April 13 at 10 p.m. and will be divided into two parts, an idea AMC insisted upon after the success of Breaking Bad. The first seven episodes have been dubbed "The Beginning," and the second half of the season, which begins spring 2015, is "The End of an Era."

"It's really a theme that goes for the entire last season," Weiner explained. "It's about the consequences in life, and if change is possible ... There's a real growth over the course of this last season from the material concerns of your life to the immaterial concerns of your life. That's really what the ending of the show is about."

Weiner also teased that something from early episodes of the series will come back around for Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

"We're very proud of the fact that as writers we don't just throw stuff away once it's happened," Weiner explained. "There is a shadow being cast over this whole season that started not just last season, but the first time we met Don."

Don will also have more trouble winning back his family than he expected.

"Announcing to the world that you've changed-that changes you," Weiner said. "Does it do anything else? ... You want to be different. You are different. Does anybody else care?"

Meanwhile, Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) will also face changes as "she only knows how to pay attention to her job. And that may become a story for this season," according to Weiner.

"Our plots are not told on extremes," Weiner continued. "They're happening on a very human scale. On Mad Men, Don forgetting to pick Sally up from school could be a big plot point. I'm afraid if these are told [in advance], the show will be boring."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.

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