The FX network has ordered 13 episodes of "The Bridge," a drama set on the El Paso-Juarez border, according to Hollywood Reporter.
Production will begin in April, and the first episodes will start airing in July, according to today's report.
The story didn't mention if any footage will be shot here. Portions of the show's pilot, which probably will be the first episode, were shot in El Paso last year, with the rest filmed in Los Angeles.
The show stars Mexican actor Demian Bichir as a Chihuahua state homocide investigator from Juarez and German actor Diane Kruger as an El Paso cop who team up to investigate the discovery of a body on one of the bridges connecting the U.S. to Mexico here.
The show has a good creative pedigree, based on a European film, "Bron," and a team that includes Meredith Stiehm, who will leave her stint as a writer-executive producer for TV's highly regarded "Homeland," and "Hawaii Five-O" producer Elwood Reid.
"For years networks have been trying to develop a drama series set on the U.S.-Mexican border without any success," FX Networks President John Landgraf is quoted in the HR story. "I'm thrilled to say that Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid have become the first to crack the creative code and they have done so magnificently. There have been great films set in that world — 'No Country for Old Men' and 'Lone Star' come to mind — but never a great TV series. This one is special."
"No Country" was written by former El Pasoan Cormac McCarthy, whose first original movie script, "The Counselor," is being turned into a big-screen film with Brad Pitt and director Ridley Scott. A crew was here last month shooting what it called "pick-up" footage in Segundo Barrio. That film hits theaters Nov. 15.
Bichir, who'll play Marco Ruiz, and Kruger, who'll play Sonya Cross, are mostly known for their movie work. He was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor last year for "A Better Life." She's a former German model who has appeared in "Inglorious Basterds" and the two "National Treasure" movies.
The cast also includes Matthew Lillard (whose career has spanned "Scream" to "The Descendants") as a "cocky" El Paso Times reporter, Ted Levine ("Monk") as part of Cross' team, Annabeth Gish ("The X-Files," "The West Wing" and "Pretty Little Liars") as a widowed ranch owner, and Thomas M. Wright, a relatively unknown Australian actor, as "a wolf of a man."
Read the full story here.
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