It’s no surprise that Kate del Castillo will be returning to her throne at Telemundo in the near future…

The network has announced that producers are in the early stages of pre-production on a sequel to Telemundo’s hit telenovela, La Reina del Sur.

Based on a novel of the same name by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte, the drama tells the story of the rise of Teresa Mendoza (played by del Castillo), a young woman from Mexico who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain.

The first episode of La Reina del Sur, which aired on February 28, 2011, attracted 2.4 million viewers, making it the most viewed premiere for any telenovela on the network. Over the course of its run, the telenovela frequently dominated it’s time slot for broadcast television among the 18-34 age demographic. And the final episode, broadcast on May 30, 2011, was Telemundo’s highest rated broadcast in its 19-year history, attracting nearly 4.2 million viewers and dominating its time slot among the 18-49 demographic, beating out the English language networks.

Despite del Castillo’s recent deal with rival Univision to produce and star in webnovelas for the network, Telemundo has confirmed that del Castillo will reprise her role.