Woody Harrelson thought his work was clogged up with more serious roles leading into “White House Plumbers.”

The “Champions” actor compared the HBO true crime limited series to the cabler’s mystery-thriller anthology show “True Detective,” in which he and Matthew McConaughey starred as a pair of grizzled homicide detectives. Despite only appearing in the first season, both actors serve as executive producers on the series, which returns with a fourth season later this year.

“White House Plumbers” writer Peter Huyck now recalls Harrelson being hesitant to sign on to the series coming off “True Detective.”

“When we all went up to your house to try and convince you to do the part, you said, ‘Look, I did “True Detective” and McConaughey got the cool part, the fun part. He got to do more crazy shit,’” Huyck reminded Harrelson as part of a Vulture interview on “Plumbers.” Harrelson stars alongside Justin Theroux in the series set during the Watergate scandal, and according to Huyseck, Harrelson worried this would repeat itself on “Plumbers.”

Huyck continued, “You were like, ‘It feels like it’s gonna happen again. Is Theroux gonna play all the funny shit and I’m just gonna have to carry the water?’ I was like, ‘No, no. [Your character] Hunt is equally crazy. Different crazy. He’s got wigs. He speaks Spanish. He’s a real eccentric character. You’re gonna have fun doing it.’”

In “True Detective,” McConaughey played the more philosophically rhapsodic Rust Cohle, while Harrelson’s Marty Hart was more of the straight man.

Harrelson said, “It happened twice. [Theroux] still got the best part. But I’m still quite happy to be in the project.”

Harrelson added of the series from the co-creators of fellow HBO show “Veep,” “It was great material right away. I mean, these guys are superlative writers. ‘Veep’ is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.”

Meanwhile, Harrelson and “True Detective” collaborator McConaughey have starred together in “Welcome to Hollywood,” “Surfer Dude,” and more projects. The duo is set to co-star in Apple TV+ series “Brother From Another Mother,” a fictionalized portrayal of their decades-long friendship. Both actors have since speculated that they are in fact half-brothers due to their shared Texan upbringings and familial relations.