El Rey Renews Soccer-Spy Drama From 'Star Trek' Director for Season 2

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"Matador," starring Gabriel Luna (pictured), has been renewed for a second season at El Rey.

Image: Richard Foreman, Courtesy of El Rey Network

By Sandra Gonzalez2014-07-10 20:47:27 UTC

El Rey is doing what the cool kids do and renewing its newest drama before it premieres.

The network announced on Thursday that it had picked up Star Trek 3 director Roberto Orci's Matador for a 13-episode second season, five days ahead of its scheduled series premiere.

The show chronicles the rise of Tony "Matador" Bravo (Gabriel Luna), a professional soccer player who lives a double life as a covert operative for the CIA.

“When Roberto first told me his concept for Matador, I knew immediately that it had to have a home on El Rey. This show exceeded every possible expectation we had in terms of great storytelling, incredible action and unique characters," El Rey network founder and director Robert Rodriguez said in a statement.

Less than a year after its launch in December 2013, El Rey has built up a small arsenal of programming, including a TV adaptation of From Dusk Till Dawn and will soon debut an interview series called The Director's Chair, in which Rodriguez interviews well-known directors.

In addition to Luna, best known for his parts on NCIS: Los Angeles and Prison Break, the show stars Alfred Molina and Nicky Whelan.

Here's the trailer for Matador:

This ahead-of-premiere renewal is less and less of an anomaly these days. Most recently, AMC renewed Better Call Saul, the upcoming Breaking Bad spinoff, for a second season — and it's not even set to debut until 2015.