January Jones is a bit of an enigma. Most people still see her as Betty Draper, the ice-cold, perfectly manicured suburban nightmare from Mad Men. She played that role so well that it almost felt like she was trapped in it. Then came January Jones in The Last Man on Earth, and honestly, it changed everything. It was a weird show. A really weird show. But her portrayal of Melissa Shart was the secret sauce that kept the group's dynamic from falling apart when the world—literally—ended.
Will Forte created something special with this series. It wasn't just about the apocalypse. It was about how annoying people get when they're the only ones left.
The Melissa Shart Paradox
Melissa wasn't the "girl next door." She was more like the girl who lives next door, sees you struggling with your groceries, and just goes back inside because she doesn't feel like talking. She was blunt. Sometimes she was terrifying.
When we first meet her, she’s the idealized "other woman" for Phil Miller (Forte). He’s married to Carol (Kristen Schaal), and suddenly this beautiful, seemingly normal woman shows up. It could have been a very tired, very sexist trope. But it wasn't. The writers, along with Jones, turned Melissa into someone deeply pragmatic, often to a fault.
She wasn't there to be the "pretty one." She was there to be the one who actually knew how to use a shotgun.
What People Get Wrong About January Jones in The Last Man on Earth
A lot of critics at the time thought Jones was "wooden." They were missing the point entirely. If you’re one of the last seven people on the planet and you’re surrounded by idiots like Phil Miller, you’re going to develop a very thick, very dry crust.
Her performance was about restraint.
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While everyone else was screaming or wearing trash bags as clothes, Melissa was trying to maintain a shred of sanity. Or, as we later found out, she was struggling with a massive, undiagnosed mental health crisis that the show handled with surprising grace for a network sitcom.
The Mental Health Arc Nobody Expected
Midway through the series, Melissa starts acting... off. Not "sitcom off," where she says a funny catchphrase. She becomes catatonic. She becomes erratic. She loses her sense of self.
This is where January Jones in The Last Man on Earth really proved her range.
The showrunners revealed that Melissa had a history of mental illness that required medication. In a post-apocalyptic world, pharmacies aren't exactly getting restocked. Watching her descend into a state where she couldn't communicate was heartbreaking. It was a massive tonal shift for a show that once featured a guy talking to a bunch of balls with faces painted on them.
She played it with a haunting stillness.
It wasn't flashy. No "Oscar bait" monologues. Just a woman who was slowly losing the war with her own brain because the infrastructure of the world had collapsed.
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The Chemistry with Todd (Mel Rodriguez)
The relationship between Melissa and Todd was the emotional heart of the show. It shouldn't have worked on paper. He’s a sensitive, oversized sweetheart; she’s a lethal, blonde realist.
But it did work. It worked because they were both outcasts in their own way.
- Todd loved her unconditionally.
- She protected him because she knew he was too good for the world they were left with.
- They represented the "normal" couple in a world where "normal" was a dead concept.
Their dynamic flipped the script on traditional TV romances. Usually, it's the guy who is the stoic rock and the woman who is the emotional center. In Fox's The Last Man on Earth, Melissa was the wall. Todd was the puddle.
Why the Show Still Matters in 2026
We’ve lived through a real-world pandemic now. We know what isolation feels like. Looking back at this show through the lens of the mid-2020s, it feels less like a wacky comedy and more like a documentary about how quickly social etiquette dissolves.
January Jones’s character was the one who refused to play the games. She didn't want to "repopulate the earth" just because it was the "right thing to do." She wanted to live her life, even if the world was a graveyard.
That autonomy is what made her so compelling.
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The Cancellation Sting
Fox cancelled the show in 2018. It was a crime. We never got to see the resolution of that massive cliffhanger where a whole bunker full of people emerged to find our ragtag group of survivors.
Will Forte has since talked about what would have happened. The group would have been rounded up and eventually, most of them would have died. Dark? Yes. Fitting? Absolutely.
For January Jones in The Last Man on Earth, the ending we got—though unintended—is actually somewhat poetic. She had found a version of peace. She had her "family." She had her weapons. She was ready for whatever came out of that hole in the ground.
Key Takeaways for Rewatching
If you're diving back into the series on Hulu or Disney+, keep an eye on these specific things regarding Melissa:
- The Wardrobe Shifts: Notice how her clothes change as she becomes more detached from reality. It's subtle costume design that tells a story.
- The Eyes: Jones does a lot of heavy lifting with just her gaze. When she's "gone" during her mental health episodes, her eyes are completely vacant.
- The Deadpan Timing: Her delivery of some of the show's darkest lines is impeccable. She makes cynicism feel like a survival skill.
Practical Steps for Fans
- Check out the "Last Man on Earth" reunion clips: The cast has done a few virtual hangouts over the years that give a lot of behind-the-scenes info on how they filmed the desert scenes.
- Follow Will Forte’s interviews: He’s been very open about the "lost" Season 5 scripts.
- Re-evaluate January Jones's post-Mad Men career: She’s better at comedy than she ever got credit for. See Spinning Out or even her Instagram (which is its own kind of performance art).
The legacy of the show isn't just the "Bud Light" jokes or the "Closure, Closure" song. It's the way it took high-concept sci-fi and turned it into a character study. And at the center of that study was a woman who was tired of everyone's nonsense.
We can all relate to that.
To truly appreciate the nuance, start your rewatch with Season 2, Episode 3 ("Dead Man Walking"). It’s where Melissa’s harder edges start to show the cracks that define her later seasons. Don't look for Betty Draper. She’s long gone. Melissa Shart is far more interesting anyway.