Woody Harrelson Lines Up Apple TV Comedy, Netflix Thriller, and Maybe Another Live Film

Woody Harrelson is stacking projects across streaming platforms. He will star opposite Matthew McConaughey in the Apple TV comedy series Brothers, playing fictionalised versions of themselves — a premise inspired by a real-life twist of genealogy. Harrelson's father met McConaughey's mother around the time McConaughey was conceived, and the series, created by Lee Eisenberg (a producer on The Office), builds its story on that connection. Variety

Separately, Harrelson teams with Jason Bateman and Sam Rockwell on The Cackling of the Dodos, a live-action thriller set in a small town that Netflix is producing. Bateman directs and also stars in the film, which reunites Harrelson and Rockwell on screen for the first time since Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Variety

Dodos carries an extra layer of significance for Harrelson: it is the first production under his new banner, Children at Play, launched with Champions producer Anna Schwartz. Variety For Bateman, the film marks his first feature directing credit since The Family Fang in 2015. Variety In a mid-2026 interview he said shooting was scheduled to begin roughly three weeks later, and a production listing in March had placed the project in pre-production. Variety Production List Netflix has described the film as small-town-set. Netflix Tudum

Harrelson is also looking back at a format he pioneered. Almost a decade ago, his directorial debut Lost in London became the world's first live-streamed feature film — broadcast in real time as it was shot. Variety He now says he is considering directing another live film for a streaming service, this time in a shorter format of about an hour. No platform, title, or production date has been named. Variety

On top of all that, Harrelson has taken up stand-up comedy as a new creative venture. He has been making notes for material but has not yet performed. Variety

What makes this slate unusual is its breadth. One actor simultaneously fronting a streaming comedy, a Netflix thriller, a new production company, a potential return to live broadcasting, and a side step into stand-up is a lot of irons in one fire. None of these projects has a confirmed release date yet, but between Apple TV and Netflix, Harrelson will be hard to miss on screens in the near future.