Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have worked together before, in 1999 on the comedy EDtv and again in 2014 on the first season of True Detective, HBO’s eerie crime drama. Offscreen, they’ve gotten just as much attention over the theory that they might actually be related. That story came out in 2023, when the pair revealed something they’d found out about their shared past. It’s possible that McConaughey’s mother had a brief relationship with Harrelson’s father around the time Matthew McConaughey was conceived, meaning the two could be half-brothers. McConaughey and Harrelson have been friends for years (and sometimes fight like brothers), so the notion of them being related has captured the public’s imagination. So far as we know, they haven’t performed a DNA test, but they are trying to spin the idea into comedy gold. This fall, McConaughey and Harrelson will star in Brothers, a new eight-episode comedy series coming to Apple TV. The actors play fictionalized versions of themselves who discover they could be related. Check out the first image below:

Apple TV+

On Brothers, the truth comes out at Matthew’s ranch in Austin, where Woody takes his family for a retreat after his daughter’s wedding falls apart. “As Woody turns the ranch upside down in pursuit of the truth, Matthew finds himself juggling an entirely different identity crisis: a potential run for Governor of Texas,” reads the official logline, per Variety. “The result is a heartfelt, chaotic and wildly funny story about friendship, family, fame and the messy line between myth and reality.” Myth and reality do seem to be on a collision course here. For instance, Holland Taylor plays Matthew McConaughey’s mother, Ma Mac. McConaughey’s real-life mother, Mary Kathleen McConaughey, really does go by “Ma Mac.” However, Natalie Martinez plays someone named Valentina McConaughey, although there’s no one by that name in Matthew’s immediate family. Likewise, while Woody Harrelson does have daughters, none of them are married. And if one of them did actually have wedding plans that fell apart, fictionalizing them on a TV show would be a strange way to reveal it. Finally, Matthew McConaughey has actually floated the idea of running for governor of Texas. Part of the fun of the show could be picking out the parts that are based on real life and the parts that are completely invented. Brothers also stars Oona Yaffe, Highdee Kuan, Nolan Almeida, Ella Grace Helton, Noah Carganilla, and Brittany Ishibashi as Joy Harrison. There’s no one by that name in Harrelson’s immediate family.

Brothers was created by The Office producer Lee Eisenberg. At first, David West Read served as showrunner, but Eisenberg replaced him at the helm after Read left over creative differences. The first two episodes will drop on Apple TV on Wednesday, Sept. 23. After that, new episodes will be released weekly until the finale airs on Nov. 4.

Release Date

January 12, 2014

Network

HBO Max