Morgan Freeman Shares His Not-So-Surprising Inspiration for Creating ‘Madam Secretary’

On Thursday’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Morgan Freeman shared his inspiration for creating the show Madam Secretary. Being a friend of Hillary Clinton, Morgan Freeman paid close attention to Clinton’s 11-hour hearing on Benghazi. It seemed to strike a chord with him and his producing partner, Barbara Hall. Freeman said, “We’ve had three female secretaries of state, and they’ve all been pretty good at it.”

With no other show telling the story of a female secretary of state, it seemed like an opportunity. Noting that the inspiration for Téa Leoni’s character was Hillary Clinton, Stephen Colbert asked the obvious question, “If she gets elected, do you think that will change your TV show at all?”

Freeman said the show is not about Hillary Clinton’s life.

The Late Show airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.

Watch: Sean Penn gets Twitter account thanks to Stephen Colbert:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram — or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.