Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have opened up about the real-life friendship and family story that inspired their new Apple TV comedy series ‘Brothers’, revealing that the idea began with an unexpected revelation from McConaughey’s mother during a family holiday in Greece.
The pair, close friends for decades and former co-stars of ‘EdTV’ and the first season of ‘True Detective,’ play heightened, fictionalised versions of themselves in the new series. At a global press conference, the actors discussed the show’s unusual origins, their friendship, and the challenge of turning their real-life chemistry into a scripted comedy.
The story behind ‘Brothers’ began around eight years ago, when McConaughey and Harrelson were vacationing together with their families in Greece.
As the families sat together late one evening, McConaughey’s mother reportedly dropped a bombshell.
“My mom says, ‘Oh, I knew your father, Woody,’” McConaughey recalled.
The comment was enough to set the families’ imaginations running wild, particularly the children, who immediately began wondering whether their fathers might actually be related.
“The story was planted,” McConaughey explained.
From there, the families began looking at the timeline and wondering whether a relationship between McConaughey’s mother and Harrelson’s father could technically have happened. While McConaughey remains unconvinced, Harrelson is considerably more certain.
“No question,” Harrelson insisted when asked whether he believed the story could be true.
The possibility eventually became the foundation for ‘Brothers’, with the actors turning the bizarre family rumour into a comedy about two friends discovering that they may actually be Brothers.
Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s friendship goes back decades
Although the pair have conflicting memories about exactly when they first met, both agree that their friendship quickly developed into something special.
McConaughey remembers meeting Harrelson at a CAA party, where Harrelson immediately suggested they have a shot of tequila despite it being early in the afternoon.
“I’m like, dude, it’s one o’clock. I got some things to do in the afternoon,” McConaughey recalled.
Their friendship continued to grow when they worked together on ‘EdTV,’ with McConaughey remembering Harrelson turning up in professional road-cycling shoes despite not actually riding a bike.
“And I was like, what’s this guy up to?” McConaughey said. “I like this guy.”
For McConaughey, one of Harrelson’s defining qualities is what he calls his “beginner’s mind”.
“He sees things for the first time every time,” McConaughey explained. “He’ll compliment me on something for the 40th time, but act like it’s the first time.”
That sense of spontaneity appears to be at the heart of their friendship, with the pair frequently finishing each other’s thoughts and turning even straightforward questions into extended comedy routines.
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‘Brothers’ gave them a chance to play heightened versions of themselves
Despite their familiarity with one another, the actors admitted that playing fictionalised versions of themselves was more difficult than they initially expected.
Harrelson explained that he initially found himself playing an exaggerated version of himself that leaned too heavily into the comedy.
“I was doing some weird version of myself where I was just a little, you know, like, doing stupid shit,” he said, adding that reshoots allowed him to adjust the performance.
McConaughey also found the process unexpectedly challenging.
“It’s harder to go play some version and betrayal of yourself than I thought it was going to be,” he said.
Part of the challenge came from the format. Unlike their real-life friendship, where a joke can develop over hours or even days, the half-hour comedy requires a much faster rhythm.
“In this kind of episodic series, you have to get to the punchline quick,” McConaughey explained. “Every little scene has a beginning, middle, punchline.”
He described himself as more of a “long joke”, where a setup might begin in the morning and the punchline could arrive much later.
Harrelson agreed, jokingly confirming that McConaughey is indeed the long joke.
From ‘True Detective’ to ‘Brothers’
The pair also reflected on reuniting after their acclaimed collaboration in ‘True Detective,’ although Harrelson revealed that their experience on that series was considerably less playful.
McConaughey famously remained deeply immersed in his role as Rust Cohle, something Harrelson found challenging during the production.
“He stays in character the whole damn day, too,” Harrelson said. “And it’s not until the end of the day where you can actually have a conversation with him.”
‘Brothers’, by contrast, allowed the pair to embrace their natural chemistry.
“We were like unruly school children on that set,” Harrelson recalled.
The actors also joked about the possibility of returning to True Detective if creator Nic Pizzolatto came up with another story that brought them together.
McConaughey admitted that he misses the experience, although Harrelson was less enthusiastic about revisiting Rust Cohle.
“I don’t want to see Rust Cohle’s face ever again,” Harrelson joked.
Holland Taylor plays a version of McConaughey’s mother
Another key element of ‘Brothers’ is Holland Taylor, who plays a fictionalised version of McConaughey’s mother.
Both actors were enthusiastic about Taylor’s performance, with McConaughey saying there was essentially nobody else they could imagine in the role.
“She’s phenomenal,” Harrelson said.
McConaughey’s real mother, however, has already made her feelings about the casting abundantly clear.
According to McConaughey, she still insists that the production made one major mistake.
“You didn’t cast me to play me,” she told him.
The actor also revealed that she has yet to see the finished series, meaning the family premiere could provide another memorable reaction.
“She might be vocal in tonight’s premiere,” McConaughey joked.
Their friendship goes beyond the jokes
Behind all the banter, the actors also spoke about the more serious side of their friendship and the ways they have supported one another over the years.
McConaughey explained that the pair regularly discuss areas where they feel they could improve, whether that means becoming better actors, husbands or fathers.
Harrelson described McConaughey as someone with “a lot of wisdom” and said he has often turned to his friend for guidance.
“There’s many times where I come to him and need his guidance, and it never fails,” Harrelson said. “He comes through.”
That openness between them is something McConaughey believes is reflected in ‘Brothers’, which puts a male friendship at the centre of its story.
“There’s not many stories about male friendship up there as the lead of a series,” he said.
The pair also admitted that one quality they share is their refusal to be the first to call it a night.
“We go hard, we go all night, and we don’t tap out,” Harrelson said.
McConaughey simply responded: “Glad you brought your swimsuit.”
‘‘Brothers’’ lets McConaughey and Harrelson embrace improvisation
Although the series is scripted, the actors revealed that they were encouraged to bring some of their natural rhythm to the dialogue.
McConaughey explained that each take could become a slightly different version of the scripted scene, rather than simply reproducing the dialogue word for word.
“When you’ve got people that can have a jive between each other, it’s the naturalism,” he said.
Interestingly, the original plan was to approach the series in a style closer to ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ with an intricate outline allowing the actors to improvise their way through scenes.
“Cooler heads prevailed, and we decided writers and scripts would be maybe helpful,” Harrelson joked.
The result appears to have given the pair a roadmap while still leaving enough room for their famously unpredictable chemistry to shine through.
McConaughey reflects on fatherhood
The conversation eventually turned more personal, with McConaughey discussing what he considers one of the biggest lessons he has learned in recent years.
With his children now teenagers, he said he has discovered that the relationship between being a parent and eventually becoming a friend is not quite as straightforward as he once imagined.
“What I didn’t realize is there was a bridge in between being a dad and being a friend,” McConaughey explained.
For him, that bridge is becoming more like a “big brother” to his children, allowing them to bring him their problems and frustrations without immediately feeling judged.
“Instead of judging them, I can share a story of my own with them,” he said. “And they go, ‘Oh, you too?’”
It is a fitting sentiment for a series built around friendship, family and the strange, sometimes hilarious bonds that connect us.
With McConaughey and Harrelson bringing decades of genuine friendship to their fictionalised relationship, ‘Brothers’ looks set to turn one very strange family rumour into a comedy about what it really means to be Brothers.
‘Brothers’ will premiere globally on Wednesday, September 23 with the first two episodes, followed by one new episode every Wednesday through November 4, 2026.
