Which actor plays Detective William Somerset in Se7en?

Morgan Freeman plays Detective Lieutenant William Somerset in Se7en. Somerset is a veteran homicide detective who is close to retirement when he is paired with the younger and more impulsive Detective David Mills, played by Brad Pitt.

The detectives investigate a series of murders staged around the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy, and wrath. Somerset’s experience and measured temperament contrast with Mills’s anger and impatience, creating the film’s central partnership.

Se7en was released in 1995 and became David Fincher’s breakthrough crime thriller. The film was written by Andrew Kevin Walker and set in an unnamed, rain-soaked city deliberately designed to feel oppressive and morally exhausted. Somerset’s name is a reference to the writer W. Somerset Maugham.

A common mix-up is assigning Somerset to Brad Pitt, who plays Mills. Morgan Freeman’s performance helped make Somerset one of the most recognizable detectives in modern crime cinema, and he was considered for the role after producer Arnold Kopelson suggested him to Fincher.