Ethan Coen Eyes ‘Go, Beavers!’ as Finale to His Lesbian B-Movie Trilogy

Coming off a Cannes debut which saw his “Honey Don’t” screened in the Midnight section, on the very last day of the fest, Ethan Coen is now aiming to direct the third film in his planned queer trilogy.

After decades of acclaimed filmmaking with his brother Joel, Ethan has struck out in a wildly different direction with his wife and longtime editor Tricia Cooke. The result? A queer, genre-blending project described as a “lesbian B-movie trilogy”—a series of offbeat, campy, and queer films inspired by classic exploitation cinema.

With two films already completed — both panned by critics — Ethan tells Collider that the trilogy capper is called “Go, Beavers!” and that it’s now officially in development. Cooke confirms they’ve “written” it. Here’s Ethan describing the hook they’re going for in this latest instalment:

“It is a genre. It’s ‘man and god,’ except it’s a lesbian movie, so it’s ‘woman and god.’ Man and nature. It’s ‘Walkabout’ and ‘Deliverance,’ except it’s all women.”

Coen and Cooke have reportedly had the concept for this trilogy in their back pocket for over two decades. Initially conceived as a way to explore genre filmmaking from a queer perspective, the scripts were intentionally playful, sexual, and unrestrained.

As Cooke told The New Yorker, their approach is “an attempt to reclaim genre from the straight male gaze,” channeling the aesthetics of B-movie absurdity through a lesbian lens.

“Drive-Away Dolls” and “Honey Don’t” marked Ethan’s first narrative features made without his brother Joel, who had previously ventured into solo directing with 2021’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Though there were signature Coen-style touches in “Dolls,” the film leaned more into absurdity and straightforward humor than what fans might expect from the brothers’ earlier collaborations.

With Joel planning another solo project, set to shoot this summer in Scotland, we’re probably a few years away before the brothers reunite on another film — their last one was the 2018 anthology “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.”