The relationship between former True Detective co-stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey might still be going strong, years after they wrapped filming on the HBO show’s legendary first season—but their new Apple TV+ comedy series, not so much. Deadline reports that filming on the untitled series, in which the pair would play fictionalized versions of their real-life selves, living together with their families in Texas, has been suspended, and its cast sent home, with showrunner David West Read having departed the series after filming eight of its ten episodes.
Read apparently ditched out on/was encouraged to ditch out on the project—which is co-owned by Harrelson and McConaughey, and inspired by their real-life relationship—over concerns about how to end the series. Deadline notes that Lessons In Chemistry creator Lee Eisenberg is being courted to come in and showrun the last two episodes of the series, as well as likely reshoot some of what’s come before. The series co-stars Holland Taylor, Natalie Martinez, Brittany Ishibashi, Oona Yaffe, Highdee Kuan, Nolan Almeida, Ella Grace Helton, and Noah Carganilla, all of whom have apparently been sent home while its leadership and creative direction is rejiggered.
The show was originally announced back in 2023, and, honestly, sounded even at the time like a thing you’d just say to get some attention—”Hey, Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are making a show for us where they play a fake version of their real friendship, and also they’re living together, doesn’t that sound fun?”—and not actually spend a lot of time and energy to, y’know, make. But here we are, at least nearly: Apple is apparently still committed to getting the show finished, at least in part because nobody likes paying to make eight whole episodes of a ten-episode show, and then having to throw the whole thing out because your producer-stars couldn’t agree with the writer on an ending.
