‘Last Man on Earth’ Returns in Season 3 With a Major Short-Lived Guest Star

Sunday night's season premiere featured a big moment.

Ray Mickshaw/FOX

'Last Man on Earth'

Sunday night's season premiere featured a big moment.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Sunday’s season three premiere of The Last Man on Earth, “General Breast Theme with Cobras.”]

Fox’s Last Man on Earth is coming back with a bang. 

After the group spotted intruders on the beach in the season two finale, Tandy (Will Forte), Carol (Kristen Schaal), Melissa (January Jones), Todd (Mel Rodriguez), Erica (Cleopatra Coleman) and Gail (Mary Steenburgen) panicked and prepared for combat. 

When season three kicks off, the Malibu group is still under siege by those three armed strangers and they’re forced to make some hasty decisions. Faced with a fight-or-flight situation, and with no way to escape, the group chooses to fight. 

In the melee, Melissa fatally shot one of the interlopers, Darrell, played by none other than Jon Hamm.

This is a significant moment for Melissa, who will have to process murdering a man. But it’s even more significant for Mad Men fans, who have to process Betty Draper killing Don Draper on screen.


Mad Men left off with the couple, long divorced, keeping up a strained relationship, so the Last Man on Earth premiere serves as a moment of closure - for Betty, at least. 

Hamm’s surprise appearance was a big moment for the post-apocalyptic show, which is consistently adding new characters, but the actor’s onscreen performance was short-lived, dying in the first few minutes of season three. More importantly, he passed away moments after he revealed that his group (along with Kenneth Choi as Lewis and Mark Boone Junior as Pat, who first appeared in season two) came in peace, making his untimely end all the more impactful.

After the Mad Men showdown, season three continued with the newcomers getting to know the group, including Lewis warning the group about Pat, who might be more dangerous than Tandy wants to believe. 

The Last Man on Earth airs Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

The Last Man on Earth

Jennifer Konerman