Before the release of Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls in February 2024, it was confirmed that Coen and his partner, writer Tricia Cooke, were to team up with lead Margaret Qualley once more in Focus Features’ Honey Don’t.

The couple are in the midst of making a “queer spiritual trilogy” that will include both features, with Qualley portraying the titled character, a private detective named Honey. Qualley spoke to playing the character, stating that this character requires her “to be a little more suave than I am, more mysterious.” Qualley explained in an interview with I-D that the difference between her and Honey is that she, as a person, wants “to diffuse things before they even happen.” Whereas the character Honey is “like honey—she’s skillful, she’s smooth, she is slipping in and out undetected.”

Qualley said she really didn’t need to be taught how to be a detective, stating no girl does. She goes on to explain, “Women know what’s happening even when they don’t know what’s happening. I remember in my early twenties, especially, my investigative skills on Instagram were really out of control. It’s a combination of tools, craft, and gut instinct.”

While Qualley has been in the first two installments of Coen and Cooke’s “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” she does not have confirmation that she will be in the final installment as of yet. She said, “I have not read a script, and I haven’t been contacted. But let the record show that if I’m not in [the third feature], I will be offended and I will be upset.” Qualley goes on to praise Coen and Cooke, saying, “They respect and love each other so much. I love the world that they’re living in.” and that her time working with them has been “unlike anything else I’ve ever known.”

Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans are also part of the ensemble, with Evans set to play “a questionable church leader at the center of Honey’s investigation.” Principal photography began in New Mexico in March 2024, and filming wrapped in late May of the same year.

Honey Don’t will hit theaters this summer.