“We have a lot of fun together, but we also share where we think we’re coming up short”: Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson on Brothers

With Brothers, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson bring one of Hollywood’s longest-running friendships to the centre of a comedy, playing dramatised versions of themselves in a story built around the possibility that they might actually be related. Speaking ahead of the series’ Apple TV+ premiere, the pair reflected on their first meeting, working together again after True Detective, and the real-life story that eventually became the basis for the show.

Even the beginning of that friendship is disputed. Harrelson remembers meeting McConaughey at a party and suggesting tequila at one in the afternoon; McConaughey’s first clear memory came a year later on the set of EdTV. He recalled hearing Harrelson approaching before seeing him, thanks to professional cycling shoes worn without a bicycle. “You could hear him from a mile away walking on these concrete sidewalks,” McConaughey said. His reaction was immediate: “What’s this guy up to? I like this guy.”

More than two decades later, McConaughey points to Harrelson’s distinctive way of seeing the world as one of his best qualities. “He sees things for the first time, every time.” That same sense of spontaneity, he suggested, can make Harrelson an unpredictable travelling companion: “If you’re going to the Oscars or the JP Morgan board meeting with Woody, it’s best to bring your swimsuit.”

Bringing that dynamic to Brothers seemed straightforward enough, though playing versions of themselves proved harder than expected. Harrelson admitted that he initially slipped into “some weird version of myself” and leaned too heavily into being silly, while McConaughey found that his own sense of comic timing did not always fit the demands of a half-hour series. “In our life, I’m more of a long joke,” he said. On Brothers, however, the rhythm had to be much faster: “You have to get to the punchline quick.”

It was a very different experience from True Detective. Harrelson joked that McConaughey’s commitment to Rust Cohle made him difficult company. “About nine out of ten days on that shoot, I wanted to slap him,” he recalled. Brothers gave them far more room to have fun. “We were like unruly schoolchildren on that set.”

That lightheartedness carried over into the dialogue. Although the series was largely scripted, McConaughey said each take became a version of what had been written. The pair had initially considered something closer to Curb Your Enthusiasm, improvising from detailed outlines, before deciding that writers and scripts might be helpful.

The idea for the series began during a family holiday in Greece, when McConaughey’s mother told Harrelson, “Oh, I knew your father, Woody.” McConaughey said it was the pause that gave the remark its meaning. Their children immediately began wondering whether the two actors might actually be related, while the families pieced together a timeline that made it at least plausible. Harrelson remains convinced; McConaughey does not.

Nonetheless, that speculation eventually became the basis for Brothers, but the series also draws on something far less hypothetical: the closeness of their friendship. McConaughey said that openness has always been part of their relationship. “We have a lot of fun together, but we also share where we think we’re coming up short,” he said. That includes trying to “become better men, better fathers, better husbands, better actors”.

Christina Yang

Brothers is released on Apple TV+ on 23^rd September 2026.

Watch the trailer for Brothers here: