"Queen of the South" star Alice Braga arrives at the 2015 NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group Upfront in New York City on May 14, 2015. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- USA Network says it has ordered a second season of Queen of the South, its drug-trafficking drama starring Alice Braga.

Former 12 Monkeys executive producer Natalie Chaidez has signed on as showrunner for Season 2 of the adaptation of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's book La Reina Del Sur.


The program is a co-production from Fox 21 Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions. It co-stars Verónica Falcón, Justina Machado, Peter Gadiot, Hemky Madera and Gerardo Taracena.

"Queen of the South tells the powerful story of Teresa Mendoza, a woman who is forced to run and seek refuge in America after her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico. In the process, she teams with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug-trafficking ring that has her on the run," the network said in press notes.