Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in their new Apple TV comedy, 'Brothers.' Apple TV Logo text Woody Harrelson won the Emmy in 1989 for his role in the classic sitcom Cheers. But anyone who tuned into the end of the 2026 Emmys may have thought he also picked up another trophy for the big comedy winner of the night, Widow’s Bay — a show he is not in.
“Did you congratulate Woody on his second Emmy?“ Matthew McConaughey jokes about his friend of three decades crashing the Widow’s Bay team’s acceptance speech (the internet also noticed).
McConaughey and Harrelson were presenting the night’s final award together because they are preparing to launch their new Apple comedy series, Brothers. You’ve probably heard the story by now: McConaughey’s mother, Kay McConaughey a.k.a “Ma Mac,” has implied that she had relations with Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, around the time that McConaughey was conceived, suggesting that the True Detective co-stars and longtime friends could actually be half-brothers. Harrelson is already convinced they are related because of their closeness, but McConaughey doesn’t want to take a DNA test because it will leave him with too much to unpack about his own family. This predicament sparked the idea for Brothers, their new semi-scripted comedy from writer-producer Lee Eisenberg. And if you’re wondering what it’s like to watch the pair play fictionalized versions of themselves on that series, read below as the pair chat — with plenty of brotherly love and ribbing — about the show, their relationship and that big Emmys finale.
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We had a lot of conversations in The Hollywood Reporter newsroom about you two closing out the Emmys.
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY Did you congratulate Woody on his second Emmy, for Widow’s Bay? Did you see him standing up there front and center? His only regret is he didn’t get time to speak after the producer.
WOODY HARRELSON (Laughing.)
I was shocked they didn’t hand you the mic while you were up there on stage.
MCCONAUGHEY He was about to take it, wasn’t he?! (Laughs hysterically.)
HARRELSON You know what happened was… it happened all very organically. We announced the winner…
MCCONAUGHEY I handed the trophy off and then scooted over to the side.
HARRELSON And I said hello to [creator Katie Dippold]. I love the show, so I was telling everybody. I said, “You guys, the show is so great.” And then, before I know it, she’s answering the thing.
MCCONAUGHEY She’s not answering. She’s thanking people for the win. They just won an Emmy for best comedy series.
HARRELSON Yeah, no, I get that.
MCCONAUGHEY Her and the cast of Widow’s Bay.
HARRELSON You don’t have to [explain] —
MCCONAUGHEY And then, Woody red shirt! Woody red shirt!
HARRELSON I look over, and I see Matthew’s in the mix, and then when I look back a minute later, I realize, “No, he’s on the periphery. He’s not in the mix.”
MCCONAUGHEY I wasn’t being shy. I was just being respectful.
HARRELSON And then I think to myself, “I really should be on the periphery, too, but now it’s more embarrassing to walk out.”
MCCONAUGHEY And therein lies Woody’s genius. When he’s in a pickle, he’s the first guy in the world to go, “Well, I mean, if I got out of the pickle now, it’d be more embarrassing than if I doubled down and stayed right in.” [He’s] looking right down the pipe/blue steel of this thing, sitting there going, “That’s right, Widow’s Bay. I’m right here.”
Presenter Woody Harrelson (in his red shirt) with the cast and crew of Widow’s Bay during their best comedy series acceptance speech, including, Matthew Rhys, creator Katie Dippold, Carver Karaszewski, Neil Casey, Kingston Rumi Southwick and Jeff Hiller. Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images It was all over TikTok, and it was perfect marketing for Brothers, since you two play fictionalized versions of yourself on the comedy series, similar to Larry David with Curb Your Enthusiasm. The moment could have been overlaid with Veep or Curb music, which really makes it a perfect tease.
HARRELSON Thank you, thank you.
MCCONAUGHEY Speaking of… Apple, grab this! This is a great idea as a meme that should be out there as press for the show.
HARRELSON Great idea. By the way, I wouldn’t mind being in the second season of Widow’s Bay, I just want to say.
Can you two take me inside the moment where you realized that this friendship and possible brother-ship would make a great TV show?
MCCONAUGHEY We’d been chatting for years, and it was becoming quite an entertaining narrative amongst he and I and our families every time we got together since my mom said that line that night in Greece [about Harrelson’s dad]. And then, a few years ago, Woody came up with, “You know what? Why don’t we make this a TV show?” I was like, “Okay, that’s kind of a good idea.” And we talked about it and, all of a sudden, I get a thing, “Hey, we got pitch meetings.” “Oh, we do? All right, great. I’ll be there.” Then, all of a sudden, we get together and hang and meet with this guy, a showrunner, and meet this other showrunner. The next thing you know, we’ve got a production office and people are being cast. It’s like, “Oh, this is happening.”
HARRELSON (Laughs.) That’s how it happened for him, but for me, once he said, “Oh, that’s a cool idea,” I’m thinking, “Okay, this is happening.” He’s kind of placating me a little bit, like, “Oh sure, whatever. No problem.” And then suddenly, we’re on set.
MCCONAUGHEY He’s the engine trying to get it done because he’s the one who believes it’s true, and who wants it to be true! For us to be brothers.
HARRELSON It is true!
MCCONAUGHEY Listen, to him, he’s like, “It is true.” Then I go, “It’s not true,” and he loves to go, “No, Matthew, you want it not to be true.”
HARRELSON He wants it not to be true —
MCCONAUGHEY It is not true.
HARRELSON — because Ma Mac did say, “I knew… your father.”
MCCONAUGHEY Which, for him, means more than a DNA test. And if a DNA test comes out and says we’re not brothers, he’s gonna say, “That’s why you can’t trust science.”
HARRELSON (Laughs.)
Will you actually share the results, if the results aren’t what you want? Or will you keep it private?
MCCONAUGHEY Well, here’s the thing…
HARRELSON He won’t take the test.
MCCONAUGHEY If we do the test and, say it’s true — which it’s not — [but if it is], then I’ve got to unpack 56 years of who I thought my dad was. But the worst-case scenario is actually if it’s not true, because he’s [Harrelson] gonna be horrible to be around.
HARRELSON Oh yeah, I’ll be depressed for a while. It’s a lose-lose situation. It’s nice to think of him as my brother. He is more my brother than my brothers in reality, for years and years. But when I found out that he’s actually my brother — and by the way, there was more to it than just that one statement. And I didn’t tell him, but I talked to her [Ma Mac] later. I got certainty that those guys were, uh, you know.
MCCONAUGHEY Listen, don’t think science doesn’t matter in this, but inclination of words — like K N E W… knew… That ellipses is what sealed it for him. And then the fact that my mom has gone on to say that when she went to go to the hospital to give birth to me and she called my dad, and my dad said, “Oh, I’m not showing up at the hospital, Kay. That ain’t my boy.” He [Woody] loves that line. “Well, does that mean that’s what your dad was saying? ‘But that’s Charlie’s boy‘?”
HARRELSON It’s true! Because he done the math, and it wasn’t mathin’. It was during their second divorce that he [McConaughey] got procreated.
MCCONAUGHEY What he [my dad] meant was that they tried to have a child for five years and nothing stuck, and finally, it did.
HARRELSON But, is that the way it happens?
McConaughey and Harrelson in Brothers. Apple TV+ Ok, so, was this your pitch for the show? Did you two just go into Apple’s offices and riff with each other, like this?
MCCONAUGHEY This is kinda what got the show made, yes. This is pretty much what made the studio go, “Yes, we’d like that show.”
Was there a bidding war? Did you pitch it around, or did you go right to Apple?
MCCONAUGHEY There was interest from more than one studio.
HARRELSON Yeah, but we like Apple a lot. I think Apple’s the new HBO.
MCCONAUGHEY Do you mean the new old HBO?
HARRELSON What’s that mean, dude?
MCCONAUGHEY Because HBO still exists, and you said, “the new HBO”…
HARRELSON The new HBO in the sense that HBO used to be the highest level of television. And now Apple is the highest level, with one great show after another.
MCCONAUGHEY Thank you, I think you’re glad I asked.
HARRELSON Okay, thank you for making me clarify that. I do appreciate it. I think she understood what I meant.
MCCONAUGHEY Well, The Hollywood Reporter, she’s an industry reporter, she knows that most of the players are going to read this, so I thought you might want to be clear.
HARRELSON [To Jackie, the interviewer] What do you think? Do you like the way HBO is shaping up?
I get why you wanted him to clarify.
MCCONAUGHEY Ooh, ooh!
HARRELSON (Laughing.) God damn. Well, where are you anyway [to Jackie]. You are outside. Are you on a boat?
No, that would be fun. I’m outside my daughter’s gymnastics class.
HARRELSON A gymnastics class? Are you outside the class right now?
Yes.
HARRELSON Can you walk over and look in?
The moms would all freak out if they saw you guys. (Laughs.) I can’t bring you in there.
MCCONAUGHEY Say hi to the gymnastics class.
HARRELSON Let’s go say hi!
I have more questions for you! I also spoke with your showrunner, Lee Eisenberg, who said you end the show making a statement about whether or not you are brothers, but that you also leave it open-ended enough to do another season. Do you want to do many seasons?
HARRELSON Hold on, you’re not a futurist are you?
MCCONAUGHEY No, that was two interviews ago.
HARRELSON I know, but she could be a futurist, you never know. Are you focused on the future?
I am right now.
HARRELSON (Laughs.)
MCCONAUGHEY The Hollywood Reporter mind would like to know.
HARRELSON Ok, I would like to say, personally, I haven’t thought one iota about a second season, and I think I can speak for my brother. But I do believe that if people like it, then we’ll do another season. And if not…
MCCONAUGHEY I think it’s fair to say, if you’re planning for a second season before the first season’s out, that’s sort of like writing your accepting speech before you won the award.
HARRELSON The Emmy?
MCCONAUGHEY Or the Oscar.
HARRELSON Well, in your case, the Oscar.
MCCONAUGHEY You won two Emmys.
HARRELSON Did you have yours written before you gave that Oscar speech [for Dallas Buyer’s Club]?
MCCONAUGHEY No.
HARRELSON Before you won the Oscar, you didn’t have it written?
MCCONAUGHEY No, sir.
HARRELSON But, I mean, you kind of knew it was coming, right?
MCCONAUGHEY No.
HARRELSON No?
MCCONAUGHEY I mean, I’d done well.
HARRELSON You went to the SAG Awards. This and that.
MCCONAUGHEY But I’m talking to a double Emmy winner now, the newly Emmy Award winner [for Widow’s Bay]. You would think — and I thought — that it was an ensemble. It’s strange that the lead is not Matthew [Rhys] — it’s Woody Harrelson in Widow’s Bay.
HARRELSON I thought it was Matthew Rhys all this time.
Sadly, I’m being told I have to wrap this interview.
HARRELSON Are you sure you don’t want us to say hi to the class?
The next time we chat, I’m going to do it from inside my daughter’s gymnastics class.
HARRELSON Perfect!
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Brothers releases the first two of eight season one episodes Wednesday on Apple TV.
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