USA Network Orders Braga’s “Queen Of The South” to Series

Alice Braga is ready to rule the USA Network…

The network has picked up its drama pilot Queen Of The South, starring the 32-year-old Brazilian actress, to series with a 13-episode order for a 2016 premiere.

Alice Braga

The pilot was developed and produced by Fox 21 Television Studios (then Fox Television Studios), which will now co-produce with Universal Cable Productions.

Based on best-selling book La Reina Del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Queen Of The South tells the story of Teresa Mendoza (Braga).

When her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico, Teresa is forced to go on the run and seek refuge in America, where she teams with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run. In the process, she learns the tools of the trade and strategically positions herself to become the leader of the Cartel.

M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller wrote the pilot. Charlotte Sieling directed the pilot.

“From script to inception, Queen Of The South had us hooked,” said USA Network president Chris McCumber. “Alice Braga does an outstanding job playing Teresa Mendoza, a determined woman who defies all odds, to not only survive, but to thrive in an unfamiliar world.”

This is not La Reina Del Sur‘s first television adaptation in the U.S. Telemundo aired a popular telenovela, which ran in 2011 to big ratings.

USA Network Looking to Adapt Telemundo’s “La Reina del Sur”

Telemundo’s La Reina del Sur is about to get an English-language makeover…

The USA Network has given a pilot order to The Queen of the South, an English-language adaptation of the blockbuster 2011 telenovela starring Kate del Castillo.

La Reina del Sur Poster

Frequent USA collaborator Fox Television Studios (White Collar, Graceland) is set to produce the project. In his television debut, feature producer David T. Friendly (Little Miss Sunshine), who brought the project to the studio, is executive producing.

Based on the best-selling book of the same by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Queen of the South is a serialized crime drama that centers on Teresa Mendoza. When her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico, Teresa is forced to go on the run and seek refuge in America, where she teams with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run. In the process, she learns the tools of the trade and strategically positions herself to become the leader of the cartel.

M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller (The Final Girls) wrote the script and will also executive produce the series with Pancho Mansfield.

La Reina Del Sur is not a typical telenovela, with critics noting that is feels closer to Breaking Bad than One Life To Live, and Telemundo giving it a major Emmy campaign. It was Telemundo’s most expensive telenovela ever with a budget of $10 million and became the highest-rated program in the Spanish-language network’s 19-year history, averaging nearly 4.2 million total viewers and more than 2.8 million viewers adults 18-49. Its May 30, 2011 series finale was the No. 1 broadcast program of the night, of any language.

Queen of the South joins USA’s other pilots Stanistan, Mr. Robot and Colony.