Demián Bichir is hoping his new FX series will bridge the gap in understanding about life on the U.S./Mexico border.

The 49-year-old Mexican actor says one of the aims of The Bridge, which was named one of the year’s most exciting new shows, is to make viewers think about the woes of the border region.

“Different issues that concern both countries are implicit in the drama and the story,” said Bichir in a Mexico City press conference.

The series begins with the discovery of the dead, altered body of a controversial U.S. judge straddling the international boundary on the bridge that links El Paso, Texas, with the Mexican metropolis of Ciudad Juarez.

The first body is followed by others and it becomes apparent that a serial killer is operating on both sides of the border, forcing El Paso detective Sonya Cross (portrayed by Diane Kruger) and Mexican police officer Marco Ruiz (Bichir) to work together to solve the case.

Since the early 1990s, Juarez has been the scene of more than 700 mostly unsolved killings of women and girls.

“The fact that a series made in the United States talks about the deaths in Juarez is very interesting,” insisted Bichir, who earned an Academy Award nomination for the Best Actor in 2012 for his stellar performance in A Better Life.

The series makes it clear that people on the U.S. side of the border “are involved in the trafficking of human beings and undocumented workers at very high levels of government,” said Bichir.

The Bridge premieres on FX on Wednesday, July 10.