Morgan Freeman Tackles Bigotry In ‘Through The Wormhole’

Source: Michael Buckner / Getty

Are we all bigots? That’s the question the first episode of the sixth season of Morgan Freeman’s Science Channel series Through The Wormhole is asking.

“No matter how open-minded we think we are, stereotypes color our judgments of others and can lead us badly astray,” Freeman says in the opening of the episode. “We live in a society fractured by race, religion, even our favorite sports teams.”

The show, which began airing in 2010, tackles complex issues through a scientific lens. And while the new season premier couldn’t be more timely with tensions over police killings and protests in Baltimore still flaring up, the episode was actually developed around the time of Michael Brown’s death last year.

“I’m not so sure it was that much of a hot button when we filmed the episode,” Freeman told People. “It sort of grew as we were developing it.”

Later in the episode Freeman asks, “When did hate become hardwired into our brains? Are we all born to discriminate against our fellow humans? Are we all bigots?”

The rest of the episode confronts the questions through experiments and a deeper look into our country’s history.

The new season of Through The Wormhole premiers tonight at 10:00 PM ET on the Science Channel.

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