New TV Series Has McConaughey Gov Bid
and Shocking Secret on His Potential Dad
Spoiler Alert: Don't Read This Column if You Think You Might Watch This New Show
at Some Point - Unless You Simply Can't Pass Up on the Chance for Shock Value
Capitol Inside
September 29, 2026
Texans got a glimpse of the most likely candidate for governor in 2030 if Gina Hinojosa doesn't win the job this year in the pilot for the new television show that has Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson playing themselves as potential brothers who were sired by a legendary Texas hitman.
The opening episode of the Apple+ series Brothers revolves on McConaughey's sudden plan to run for the Lone Star State's top political post that Republican Governor Greg Abbott is seeking again this year for the fourth time in the general election five weeks from now.
Harrelson is starting to tell him that they may be siblings based on a conversation he's just had with McConaughey's mom before the Oscar-winning actor interrupts to share a vision that he'd had the night before when his car was stolen, he's picked up hitchhiking by a TMZ reporter and rides a bull at a rodeo.
"Last night, buddy, the universe, it spoke to me, man," McConaughey tells Harrelson. "My purpose has never been more clear than it is right now. I'm gonna run for governor."
McConaughey had contemplated a bid for Abbott's job in 2022 before deciding to forego the race after Beto O'Rourke entered as the eventual nominee for the Democrats. A longtime Austin resident, McConaughey left open the possibility of a gubernatorial campaign as an independent but appeared to realize that would be a dead end despite his status as a massive worldwide celebrity. A race at some point in the future appears to be on the famous actor's table - and the new TV series is sure to revive speculation on a McConaughy's segue into politics at some point.
But the new TV show reveals the significance of the title in the pilot that premiered last week on the streaming app in a conversation that Harrelson has with McConaughey's mother in the second half of the opening episode. Veteran actress Holland Taylor, who's cast as Ma Mac, implies that her son Matthew may have been conceived by Woody's father - who he refers to in the show as " Clive V. Harrelson - prisoner number 57382."
Harrelson is taken by surprise when Ma Mac, who he's known for 25 years, tells him "it happened" during one of her divorces from McConaughey's father, who's called Big Mac in the series. McConaughey's parents were married and divorces three times in real life. Harrelson is aghast by her words in the show.
"What happened?" Harrelson asks. "Did you and my father have sexual relations?'
"It's just that, you know, maybe not a total coinkydink, that you and Matthew are always scrapping like brothers," Ma Mac reples.
The actor's father in real life was Charles V. Harrison - a professional killer who received two life sentences for his conviction in the assassination of federal judge John Wood in San Antonio in 1978. Harrison was charged with murdering the jurist who was known as "Maximum John" in a crime in which two more infamous Texas brothers - Jimmy and Joe Chagra - were implicated and convicted for plotting and trying to cover up as a pair of El Pasoans who were deeply involved in the cocaine trade.
The first Brothers episodes could be fodder for the fear and paranoia that Abbott is suffering amid the possibility of his ousting in the upcoming midterm vote by a Democratic challenger who's faced a gargantuan disadvantage in fundraising for the gubernatorial competition here. Prominent U.S. election tracker and data guru Nate Silver wrote on Monday that the incumbent Texas governor leading Hinojosa by a grand total of 1.9 points in an update an analysis of the polling in his newsletter Silver Bulletin.
Silver founded FiveThirtyEight - a pioneer in the art and science of projecting political races before its purchase by ABC News. The Silver Bulletin pinned Democratic State Rep. James Talarico's lead at 3.4 points on average in the polls over Republican Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race in Texas. So the incumbent Republican over Hinojosa, a Texas House member from the Capitol City as well, is almost half the size of Talarico's in a race for governor that's well within the margins of error as a statistical tie.
Abbott rejected speculation this ween on his impending demise - promising voters that he was no danger of losing and headed for a fourth consecutive victory in the fight for the position as the state's chief executive. But Abbott might not be so confident if McConaughey was on the ballot across from him as opposed to a state lawmaker who'd been relatively unknown outside of political circles in Austin and the Rio Grande Valley where she was born and raised.
This would have been the perfect year for someone like McConaughey to run for governor. But the new series with Harrelson will rekindle talk on a McConaughey campaign regardless of whether Abbott wins again and sets his sights on a fifth term.
The premise of the pilot has McConaughey with a bad case of writer's block in an attempt to write a speech for a high school pep rally as a tribute to his father, whose football jersey with the number 71 is being retired and hooked to the gym wall during the event. The actor's real life dad - James McConaughey was known as Big Jim - a lineman at Kentucky and Houston before he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1953.
Episode number one ends with Woody starting again to tell his pal that they really may be brothers as the sons of Maximum John's alleged killer who'd been accused of multiple murders before the judge was shot to death at a time when he'd been preparing to sentence Jimmy Chagra for drug smuggling.
Critics weren't impressed with the Brothers premier on Rotten Tomatoes, where they gave it a grade of 54 original before it jumped all the way to 61 percent. The audience wasn't all that fond of it as well with a rating of 64 percent. But the show is a must-watch, however, for anyone who fancies the prospects for a movie star as the governor in the nation's second largest state.
Capitol Editor publisher and editor Mike Hailey's column appears on a fairly regular basis
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