USA’s Queen of the South will end with its fifth season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The final ten episodes will begin to air on April 7.
The ending of the series comes as USA, which has no network executive currently, moves away from scripted originals, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The network, which is moving toward more live, unscripted programming and anthology series, is now left with The Sinner, its only remaining scripted original, according to Deadline.
Queen of the South is based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novel La Reina del Sur. In the series, Alice Braga (I Am Legend, Elysium) plays Teresa Mendoza, a woman forced to run to America, away from the Mexican cartel. Through the show, Teresa builds her own “drug trafficking empire,” according to Deadline.
In the fifth season, Molly Burnett (Relationship Status), who plays a member of Mendoza’s drug trafficking group, named Kelly Anne, will become a series regular, and Pasha Lychnikoff (Deadwood, Shameless) will join the series as another “underworld oligarch and war criminal,” according to Deadline.
Executive producers Dailyn Rodriguez (Ugly Betty), Ben Lobato (Mariposa Canyon) and David Friendly (Little Miss Sunshine) said they are happy with the work of the cast and crew on Queen of the South.
“We could not be prouder of our entire cast and crew that joined us on this magnificent journey,” Rodriguez, Lobato and Friendly said, according to Deadline. “Queen of the South began shooting in Mexico City, brought us to faraway places like Malta and Colombia and finally landed in New Orleans. We cannot wait to share the explosive final season with our devoted fans. And, of course, we could not have made this show without the talented and tireless Alice Braga, who brought our queen to life.”
Frances Berwick, chairman of entertainment networks for NBCUniversal said she was thankful to have worked with everyone involved with the series.
This series broke boundaries for the genre, and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with this incredible team of creators, cast and crew along with our studio partners at 20th Television and UCP,” Berwick said, according to Variety. “As we close this final chapter, we look forward to a great season culminating in a finale that will give our fans the ending they deserve.”