The “masterpiece” TV show Morgan Freeman wants everyone to see: “You’re missing something special”
There are many valid reasons why they say that honesty is the best policy, even if there are probably more than a few studio bosses out there who really wish Morgan Freeman would stop telling people he’s only making a movie for the money before it’s even been released.
It’s true, though, and it’s often easy to tell. Beyond the sheer volume of straight-to-video thrillers he’d added to his filmography in the last few years, Freeman isn’t the kind of actor who can hide it when he’s going through the motions, so it’s not as if any of those paycheque gigs come across as a revelation.
When he’s invested, he can still deliver the kind of studied, cerebral, and wizened turn that made him an icon in the first place, but it’s stating the obvious to say that doesn’t happen in the cavalcade of pictures he admitted were only made to enhance his bank balance, most of which unfold in the action genre.
The point is, the Academy Award winner has always been honest and upfront about the things he does and doesn’t like, whether that’s his own work, some of the films he’s appeared in, the people he’s worked with, or the jobs he’s taken solely for the number of zeroes they provide. With that in mind, when he calls a TV series a masterpiece, it’s coming straight from the heart.
The small screen’s second ‘Golden Age’ has been ongoing for over a quarter of a century at this point, and there are several shows that fit the “masterpiece” billing. The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire, most of Game of Thrones, and The West Wing are among them, but Freeman didn’t opt for the obvious.
Instead, Hollywood’s favourite exposition dropper came armed with a suggestion completely out of left field: a three-season Greek drama about a wayward musician who heads to the island of Paxos to spearhead the revival of a local music festival before getting drawn into a murder mystery that originally aired on the country’s oldest private television network.
Not that Freeman spends his free time trawling through Greece’s array of local channels to stumble upon his next binge-watch: Maestro in Blue was acquired by Netflix in late 2022 and released on the streaming service several months later, becoming the first series from the nation to premiere on the platform.
Ahead of the third season’s arrival in December 2024, the actor urged his Instagram followers to check it out as soon as possible. “If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Maestro in Blue, you’re truly missing something special,” he wrote. “Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Paxos, a small Greek island that’s close to my heart, this series is a masterpiece. Mark your calendars, my friends. Don’t miss it.”
Freeman even took his fandom to the next level by travelling to Paxos in June 2025, where he was pictured palling around with Christophoros Papakaliatis, who plays the lead role of Orestis, which is the sort of thing you can get away with when you’re a rich, famous, and dedicated viewer of a favourite TV show.
