Following his impressive recurring roles on Showtime’s Weeds, Demián Bichir will headline his American television series.

FX has put in a 13-episode order for The Bridge, the drama pilot starring the 49-year-old Mexican actor and Academy Award nominee and Diane Kruger.

Based on the Scandinavian series Bron, which was set on the border of Denmark and Sweden, The Bridge takes place on the border between El Paso and Juarez. It centers on two detectives — one from the United States, Detective Sonya Cross (Kruger), and one from Mexico, Marco Ruiz (Bichir) — who have to work together to hunt down a serial killer operating on both sides of the frontera.

“For years networks having been trying develop a drama series set on the U.S.-Mexican border without any success,” said FX president John Landgraf. ”I’m thrilled to say that Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid have become the first to crack that 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. The setting, the writing, the direction, and the way it is brought to life by Demián Bichir, Diane Kruger and the rest of the cast makes for truly riveting drama.”

The Bridge co-stars Ted Levine, Annabeth Gish and Thomas M. Wright; with Matthew Lillard guest-starred in the Gerardo Naranjo-directed pilot.

Filming on the series will begin in April for a July 2013 premiere.