Jon Hamm, known for his starring role as Don Draper in Mad Men, was a potential candidate for the lead detective role in Rockstar Games' 2011 title, LA Noire. Daniel McMahon, a writer on the game, shared this detail, explaining that both Mad Men and LA Noire shared the same casting director.
McMahon stated that Hamm was "discussed as a possibility for the role of Cole Phelps." However, he clarified that while Hamm is a talented actor, the vision for Cole Phelps aligned better with Aaron Staton, who ultimately portrayed the detective. Staton, who played Ken Cosgrove in Mad Men, was selected for his ability to convey the character's specific qualities. "Aaron Staton was much better at portraying Cole's fragility," McMahon said. "He's very smart, but he's also young, not very experienced, and he's just trying his best." McMahon acknowledged that Hamm would have been "incredible, but expensive, and probably, in the end, not as good casting for that character as Aaron Staton was."
LA Noire, developed by Team Bondi, was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, with Rockstar Games as the publisher. The game is set in 1947 Los Angeles and follows Detective Cole Phelps. The title received ports to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2017, followed by a VR edition titled The Case Files in 2019. Despite selling millions of copies, a sequel has not materialized. In 2012, Rockstar Games indicated a sequel was a possibility, citing bandwidth and timing as reasons for not rushing development. Team Bondi, however, shut down amid controversy regarding alleged hostile working conditions, reportedly leaving the studio in $1.4 million debt. Its assets, including a project named Whore of the Orient, were acquired by Kennedy Miller Mitchell.