Matthew McConaughey isn’t ruling out that his decades-long friendship with Woody Harrelson could be a family affair after all.
The actor marked his Bowl co-star’s 65th birthday on Thursday with a knowing Instagram post captioned “from another mom? Happy birthday bro,” along with an old photo of the pair embracing.
The timing is not accidental.
McConaughey and Harrelson star in a new one Apple TV+ comedy called Brotherswhere they play fictional versions of themselves whose lifelong bond is severed when they stumble upon a long-buried secret that suggests they may actually be biological siblings.
The eight-episode series premieres on September 23.
According to Blackthe real-life speculation began years ago when McConaughey’s mother told Harrelson she had known his father, hinting at a past connection in West Texas.
McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Harrelson in Midland, towns about 440 km apart.
The couple reportedly worked out that Harrelson’s father may have been on leave around the time McConaughey’s parents were going through their second divorce.
Harrelson’s father, Charles Voyde Harrelson, was a convicted contract killer serving a life sentence for the 1979 killing of a judge; Harrelson had little relationship with him growing up after he left the family, though he later reconnected and visited him in prison until his death in 2007.
Neither actor has taken a DNA test to confirm any biological connection, and Harrelson has reportedly been hesitant to dig further, wary of upsetting his understanding of the father who actually raised him.
That uncertainty in the real world became the inspiration Brotherswhich the couple also produces.
Sore The Hollywood Reporters synopsis begins the series when Woody’s daughter’s wedding falls apart, and he brings his family to live at Matthew’s ranch in Austin for what is meant to be a healing getaway, until Matthew’s mother, Ma Mac (played by Holland Taylor), accidentally reveals the long-buried secret.
While Woody tries to uncover the truth, Matthew simultaneously struggles with a very different identity crisis: a possible run for governor of Texas.
The series also stars Natalie Martinez, Brittany Ishibashi, Nolan Almeida, Ella Grace Helton, Noah Carganilla, Highdee Kuan and Oona Yaffe.
The two stars’ families have long treated each other as extended family regardless of any DNA results.
Harrelson has been married to Laura Louie since 2008, with whom he shares three daughters, while McConaughey has been married to Camila Alves since 2012 and has three children of his own.
Speaking of Kelly Ripa’s Let’s talk off camera Podcast in 2023, McConaughey summed up how blurred the families have become, joking, “My kids call him Uncle Woody, his kids call me Uncle Matthew.”
He added that relatives on both sides often mix up pictures of the two men, mistaking one for the other.
