Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have been joking for years about the possibility that they may actually be related. At this point, I thought I was pretty used to the idea. Then McConaughey shared a new image from their most recent collaboration, the upcoming Apple TV series Brothers, and suddenly I understand why nobody can let this thing go. Because they really do look like a lot of like in this uncanny new series photo.
The actor shared the image from the 2026 TV show release to his Instagram Stories, with Apple placing him and Harrelson side by side in a shot from the new comedy. Maybe it is the matching expressions. Maybe it is the lighting. Maybe decades of friendship have caused their faces to slowly converge, the way longtime couples sometimes start to resemble each other.
I was going to make a joke about dogs looking like their owners, but neither man deserves that stray. Whatever is happening here, though, these two really do look like brothers, as you can see in the image below.
The resemblance is especially funny because Brothers is built around the real-life question that has followed the Dallas Buyers Club star and Harrelson for years.
The eight-episode comedy series, set for streaming for all Apple TV+ subscribers, has the True Detective stars playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Woody and his family move onto Matthew’s ranch after his daughter’s wedding goes sideways, only for Matthew’s mother (played by Holland Taylor) to let slip a rather significant family secret: the longtime friends might actually be biological brothers. Woody starts digging for answers while Matthew has another problem on his hands, a possible run for governor of Texas.
That premise sounds ridiculous until you remember there is a real story behind it. The two A-list best friends have said their families began wondering about a biological connection after McConaughey’s mother, Kay, revealed that she knew Harrelson’s father, Charles, around the time the Interstellar actor was conceived. Harrelson has been much more willing to settle the question with a DNA test. The Dazed and Confused star has resisted, explaining that a positive result would also mean learning the man he spent his life believing was his father was not biologically related to him. And since McConaughey’s dad died decades ago, with the Cheers star’s father also long gone, there is no easy way to get answers without potentially rewriting a pretty significant piece of his family history.
He was equally unmoved when Maury Povich jokingly offered to help settle the question with one of his famous paternity tests, because apparently even “You are the brother!” is not enough to get McConaughey into a lab. He later explained why he still was not interested. Apple clearly knows exactly what it has here.
The comedy also marks another major reunion for the pair after EDtv, Surfer, Dude and, most famously, the first season of True Detective. Harrelson has already warned anyone expecting another Rust Cohle and Marty Hart murder mystery that Brothers is very much a comedy, comparing its approach more closely to Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Honestly, making an entire new TV series out of the weirdest rumor surrounding your friendship is already a pretty great bit. But after seeing that new photo, I have one problem. The show may spend eight episodes asking whether these guys are brothers, and I’m increasingly worried the publicity department has already spoiled the answer.
Brothers premieres Sept. 23 on Apple TV, with the first two episodes arriving together before new episodes stream weekly through Nov. 4.
