Apple TV+ Drops 'Brothers' Trailer: McConaughey and Harrelson Reunite as Maybe-Siblings
Apple TV+ has released the official trailer for Brothers, a comedy series in which Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson play fictionalised versions of themselves — and discover they might actually be brothers. The eight-episode series premieres on 23 September with two episodes, then drops one episode every Wednesday through 4 November Variety.
The show is built on a real-life rumour that has followed the two actors for years. McConaughey and Harrelson have long been the subject of speculation that they are related, and Brothers turns that gossip into its central premise. Harrelson told Esquire that the two have not taken a DNA test but pointed to "almost insane coincidences," including that McConaughey's mother had a relationship with Harrelson's father around the time McConaughey was conceived Variety.
In the show's plot, Harrelson's character sees his daughter's wedding end in disaster and moves in with McConaughey's character. While living together, the two start to piece together evidence that they could share a father. McConaughey's character has his own problems: he is weighing a potential run for Governor of Texas, an identity crisis that runs parallel to the brotherhood question Variety.
The reunion comes roughly 12 years after McConaughey and Harrelson co-starred in the HBO crime anthology True Detective Espinof. Apple TV+ first announced the project in March 2023 as a 10-episode half-hour comedy Apple TV Press. The final order landed at eight episodes.
Lee Eisenberg serves as showrunner — the writer-producer who oversees the writers' room and day-to-day creative decisions — and executive produces alongside McConaughey, Harrelson, Natalie Sandy, David West Read, Trish Hofmann, Bill Bost, Jason Winer, David Finkel, Brett Baer and Jeremy Plager. Trent O'Donnell directs multiple episodes, including the pilot. The ensemble cast also features Holland Taylor, Natalie Martinez, Brittany Ishibashi, Highdee Kuan, Nolan Almeida, Ella Grace Helton, Noah Carganilla and Oona Yaffe Variety.
Paramount Television Studios produces the series for Apple TV+. The trailer release on 25 August 2026 follows a steady stream of Apple TV+ scheduling announcements through August, including season-two return dates for Stick on 4 November and Bad Monkey on 2 December, plus a season-six trailer for the espionage drama Slow Horses Apple TV Press.
For McConaughey and Harrelson fans, Brothers offers something their earlier collaboration did not: the two actors playing themselves, leaning into a question neither has actually answered in real life.
