Why Lukas Gage Was Fired from Mad Men After He ‘Bragged to Everyone’ About Gig

The White Lotus actor sat down with Kelly Ripa, 55, and Mark Consuelos, 54, to re-visit his early career. Per Gage, he was hired to portray a teenager on the 1950s-set AMC series, opposite Kiernan Shipka, 25, when the crew noticed a detail about him that didn’t quite fit the vintage aesthetic.

 “I walk on set, I see Kiernan Shipka, who’s now one of my best friends, and [the crew sees] this giant tattoo on the whole side of my body while I’m going to be shirtless, playing a 15-year-old in the ’50s,” recounted the Companion actor and I Wrote this for Attention author.  

Gage shared that the role served as one of his first jobs, and he “bragged to everyone about it,” before filming — where he was told, “You’re going home.”

Ripa reacted curiously, wondering if the crew could have covered it with makeup. “It wasn’t going to work, they could just recast it real quick,” explained the actor. 

Even though he was understandingly heartbroken at the time, he and Shipka laugh about the experience now. Apparently, the Sabrina actress fondly calls him “Tattoo Boy.”

And a year after the conclusion of Mad Men, Gage explained he had a reassuring run-in with one of the show’s biggest stars, Jon Hamm, 54. As Gage catered the Emmys, he said Hamm hugged him and didn’t hesitate to share words of wisdom — telling him, “everyone has to get fired once in their careers.”

Today, the actor still looks at the role as a stepping stone for breaking into the industry,.

“if I didn’t book that job, I wouldn’t have booked the next couple [things]. Everything led to the right place,” he reflected. Gage is now well-known for his performances on major projects like The White Lotus, Euphoria and Smile 2. 

His new memoir, I Wrote This for Attention, is out October 14 — and details his upbringing in the west coast, struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder and the pain “of feeling too much and nothing at all.”