USA orders series pick-up for 'Queen of the South'

USA has picked up the drug-trafficking drama Queen of the South, ordering 13 episodes to premiere next year. The series, about a woman named Teresa Mendoza who flees to Mexico after her boyfriend is murdered by a dangerous cartel, is based on the novel La Reina Del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

Produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions, Queen of the South will star Alice Braga as Mendoza. The original novel has already yielded a popular Telemundo series, and the USA adaptation has yet to announce a showrunner.

The series is slated to premiere in 2016.