January Jones spoke recently about what it was like to film her last scenes for Mad Men, and compared it to watching someone die.

The hugely successful AMC show aired its series finale on Sunday night, sending Don Draper off in what many fans are calling the “right” way, even though many of us would rather not see him go at all. As for Jones and her role as Betty, she has continued to fascinate and exasperate fans over the years, first as the young, naive wife of a charming philanderer and then as the woman who knew too much. After living in Betty’s skin for so many seasons, Jones said that the last day of filming–which was scheduled so that everyone was involved in some way–was terrible.

“It was awful. It was really sad. They scheduled it so that on the last day, everyone had their last scene of the episode, and it was like every moment of the day was somebody’s last something, and it was just so sad. I think I had one of the last scenes of the day and [was] just asking for more takes because I knew it was like the last time that I would ever speak for Betty. It was like someone was dying. I was like, ‘Let me just do one more,’ because I knew I would never be her again,” Jones told People.

It’s not clear what’s next for Jones, although she has a world of possibilities open to her now. She said recently that doing the same show for so long with the same people tends to make an actor feel insulated, so she’s learned to value her relationships outside of the workplace.

“I’ve become a better person and becoming a mother has opened up a whole new world to me. I feel I’ve become a better friend, too. When you do a TV show for so long you live in a bubble, so I’ve learned to value real relationships. I’ve been blessed, I have no complaints really,” January Jones said.