Jon Hamm stars in “Mad Men”

Dust off the hi-fi and pull out the Canadian Club. The high-powered men and women of AMC's hit drama "Mad Men" return for season 7 on Sunday, April 13.

But don't get too comfortable -- much like it did with another of its wildly-successful series, "Breaking Bad," the network will air the seventh and final season of the show in two parts. The first seven episodes will air this spring, with the remainder of the season slated to air in 2015. Creator Matthew Weiner told the "Washington Post" he "really didn't fight" the decision. “The interesting thing is the show is always kind of structured in halves, whether the audience notices or not,” he said, referring to the fact that major plot points in the series often come at the midway point of a season rather than only at the end, as they do in most other series.

Based on that interview with the "Post," the notoriously tight-lipped showrunner hinted that the final season would wrap up as the cultural backdrop of the show, the turbulent 1960s, are coming to a close. This may come as a disappointment to fans and speculative bloggers, who were excited at the prospect of the final season taking place in the early '70s, mostly based on some of the clothing worn by actors in the promotional material released for this upcoming season. Nonetheless, 1969 certainly had its own share of potential plot-enhancing events that could add spice to the show, including the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Stonewall riots and the Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by the Manson Family.

The real question fans want an answer to, though, is what has become of our favorite characters?

When we left Don Draper (Jon Hamm, "Bridesmaids," 2011), he was coming to terms with his lifelong identity crisis. After ceding his position as head of Sterling Cooper & Partners' new L.A. office to Teddy Chaough (Kevin Rahm, "Desperate Housewives"), his wife, Megan, (Jessica Paré, "Wicker Park," 2004) had apparently reached her wits' end, having already been written off her successful daytime soap opera to follow Don to California. Following a breakdown in front of executives from Hershey in which he revealed his painful childhood for the first time to his business partners, Don is asked to take leave "for a few months," after which he takes his kids to see the now-dilapidated former brothel where he was raised. These are perhaps signs that Don is preparing to face his demons and is finally ready to reveal his tumultuous past to those close to him. But Don revealing details to his loved ones doesn't mean we should expect a total 180 from the handsome-yet-deeply-troubled ad man, says Weiner. "I definitely think that affected him, but there are a lot of other consequences that are hanging in the balance. You can say he’s a survivor, he’s going to start over, but what does that mean?”

Christina Hendricks as seen in “Mad Men”

Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss, "On the Road," 2012), torn for the better half of season 6 between her loyalty to Don as her mentor and her romantic feelings for Ted Chaough, was left without a love interest at the end of last season after Ted made the decision to move to L.A. to get away from her and attempt to save his marriage. She finally seemed to be on even footing, career-wise, after struggling through the boys' club of Madison Avenue since season 1, but with Don and Ted both gone and the bulk of the agency's creative work resting on her shoulders, she'll presumably need to prove her worth once more as acting creative director of the firm's New York office.

Ever since Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks, "Drive," 2011) earned her partnership at the firm in a less-than-honorable way, she's been faced with judgment and resentment from other executives. Close to the end of last season, she saw a way to legitimize her position by bringing in big business from Avon, a Fortune 500 company then as now, and met the wrath of Ted and Pete by trying to stake her claim as the account lead. While we haven't learned the outcome of that bold move, we can hope to see Joan advocate for herself and her role at the firm some more in the upcoming season.

Based on the air travel-themed season 7 trailer and the premiere's tagline (the new season of Mad Men "takes off" April 13), we can expect some major changes on the horizon for the characters, many of whom we expect to see followed to their new lives in Los Angeles. The show appears to be going bicoastal, and fans can't wait to go along for the ride -- even if it will be another year before that plane finally lands. Hope you've got lots of leg room.