Fan-Favorite Actor Says He’ll ‘Never’ Return to Hit Show

Woody Harrelson won’t be making a return to True Detective.

The actor, 64, said he would “never” appear on the HBO hit show again following the success of his first season with Matthew McConaughey during an interview with TODAY‘s Dylan Dreyer Friday.

McConaughey, 55, recently revealed he was open to reprising his role as Detective Rust Cohle in another True Detective iteration, leading Dreyer to ask about his comments to Harrelson, who played Detective Marty Hart.

“He actually said that he would be into it, ‘If Woody and I think it’s good enough. It wouldn’t even be a choice,’” Dreyer said of McConaughey’s comments.

“Matthew’s so funny, but in fairness, never,” Harrelson then responded. “Not a chance.”

Harrelson said he didn’t want to expand on Season 1 of True Detective “because it turned out great” the first time around. “I love that it turned out the way it did, and if anything, doing another season would, I think, tarnish that,” he explained.

True Detective earned both McConaughey and Harrelson Emmy nominations after it premiered in 2014, and the anthology crime series has continued to air three more seasons through 2024, with Season 5 set to premiere in 2027.

McConaughey recently revealed to NME what it would take for him to return to True Detective, saying of chatter surrounding a possible reprisal of his iconic role, “We’re pretty excited about the idea, but there’s no script yet.”

“When I read the original True Detective script and everything Rust Cohle said … it was fire,” he told the outlet last month. “It was so good that a sequel would have to take it a step further.”

He continued, “We’re all thrilled by the idea, but for now it’s just an idea. However, if [creator] Nic [Pizzolatto] writes something that Woody or I think is really good, saying no wouldn’t even be an option.”

McConaughey and Harrelson will reunite soon in Apple TV’s upcoming unscripted series Brother From Another Mother, which follows the two actors and friends attempting to live together on McConaughey’s Texas ranch in Texas. No release date has been announced.