Morgan Freeman has one of the biggest movies in the world, a pilot with CBS, and a Science Channel TV show returning with a special on Wednesday night and a new season later this year.
So when you talk to Freeman, which TheWrap did earlier this week, there is a lot of ground to cover. First things first: “Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman” is back, and it’s tackling on a pretty big topic: God.
Freeman knows a little something about God, having portrayed him in “Bruce Almighty” — a role that his demeanor and voice made him perhaps born to play. “After playing the President, I always knew that at some point someone would come around at some point and offer me the role of God,” Freeman told TheWrap.
Now, the actor is helping to shepherd the debate of His existence, in the “Wormhole” special “Is God an Alien Concept?”
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Freeman has hosted the show throughout its previous four seasons and strongly believes in its impact on both a generation of viewers, and television executives.
“I came to the conclusion some years ago that the most effective teaching tool we have at our fingertips today are our entertainment outlets,” Freeman said. “TV and movies are very effective at presenting ideas.”
With Fox’s “Cosmos” premiering on Sunday, it seems like a bit of a renaissance time for looking to the stars. Freeman believes his Science Channel show helped kick that off.
“I give us credit for it,” he told TheWrap. “We knew that something like this would catch on so well. Other studios and networks glom on to what seems to work … like, ‘Hey, let’s get ours.’”
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Freeman, who is an executive producer on upcoming CBS pilot “Madam Secretary” starring Tea Leoni, is perhaps as well known for his voiceovers as he is with his on-camera performances (he does both on “Wormhole”).
The star of “The Lego Movie” says he’s “very surprised” with the success of his first animated venture (“This is the one that I was offered”). At the time of this writing, “Lego” has currently earned $210 million domestically, $331 million worldwide.
The actor did not attend the Academy Awards this year, but he believes that the awards show got the winners right, even if there were occasional flubs, like John Travolta‘s Idina Menzel gaffe, which has inspired countless memes, jokes and spoofs.
“You sympathize because the whole show depends on these teleprompters and the timing of it,” Freeman said of the incident. “When it goes badly, it doesn’t really reflect on the performer, but you’re there.”
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“Wormhole,” which starts each season with 30 ideas and then whittles those down to 10 episodes, will kick off its fifth season later this year. Season 6 is “very likely” to happen, executive producer James Younger told TheWrap.
The special Are We Alone? “Through the Wormhole” airs at 10 p.m. Wednesday on the Science Channel.
Watch an exclusive clip from “Is God an Alien Concept?”: