Mad Men fans are bracing themselves for the series finale on Sunday, which will surely be the end of one of the most highly-acclaimed era on television. Actress Christina Hendricks, who plays sassy yet sexy Joan Holloway Harris, opens up about the finale and how hard it's been for her to say goodbye to the show.

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The 40-year-old Hollywood star says that she's still unsure how she'll be watching the finale, which will air Sunday, May 17 on AMC.

"I don't know," she told Los Angeles Confidential. "I don't think I've said goodbye. As I watch the last episode, maybe that will happen. It's a very weird sensation. I just always have taken it for granted. Like, I still get to go back in six months and play her again. But not this time."

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The last time we saw Joan on screen, she was being pushed out the door by the sexist McCann Erickson partners while being given only half of her $500,000 payout. Fans are still unsure if Joan will be making an appearance in the finale, or if the last time we see her is during her most disgraced moment of her advertising career.

Hendricks herself has said that playing Joan was intimidating at first.

"I thought, 'Who is this person? Gosh, she's bossy, she's a know-it-all, she's critical,'" she recounted. "And then after several conversations, Matt said: 'She truly thinks she knows best, and if she can give that wisdom to someone else, then she's being helpful.' And I thought, Okay- I can work with that. And then I just started to love the snarky stuff that she would say. Even in the beginning, I loved the weird lines: Joan saying to Peggy, 'Your sandwich makes me sad. Let's go out to lunch.' That's such a mean thing to say to someone - but it was so fun to do!"

Hendricks also said that she loves that Joan has such a strong female following with her fans.

She said, "I love [that I have a female following] because I'm a girl's girl...I'm a guy's girl, too-I've got a lot of guy friends, but my girlfriends are really important to me. And there must be something about that being important in my life that I project that into my characters without even knowing it. I really respect women, and so to receive it back is awesome."

Tags: Mad Men AMC drama