More than 10 years after playing God, Morgan Freeman has gone in search of him.

The actor, whose new television series explores the existence of God, has even picked a favourite faith — Zoroastrianism.

Freeman, 78, looked into Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam while filming six-episode documentary series The Story of God for the National Geographic Channel. But he found himself most drawn to Zoroastrianism, the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, which was founded by the Iranian prophet Zoroaster 3,500 years ago.

The star, pictured, played God in 2003 film Bruce Almighty alongside Jim Carrey. He said: “Zoroastrianism rests on three principles of existence: to have good thoughts, to say good words and to do good deeds. We all strive to live at that level. People outside that circle of existence we call criminals.”

He visited nearly 20 cities in five continents for the series, including Rome — where he tried and failed to interview Pope Francis. He said: “We went to the Vatican but he [the Pope] happened not to be in Chambers at the time. That would have been a fascinating conversation, particularly with this Pope.”

He said: “I was not raised in religion. I was raised pretty much agnostic ... for me God exists. But why does God exist and what is God? We didn’t answer that but we asked the questions.”

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The Story Of God with Morgan Freeman, Sunday at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel.