September 1. 2010: Director Robert Rodríguez attends the 'Machete' premiere during the 67th Venice Film Festival at the Sala Grande Palazzo Del Cinema in Venice, Italy. (2010 Getty Images)
Robert Rodriguez plans to make a suave, debonair debut with the first series for his new television network “El Rey.”
The Mexican-American movie director is developing a 13-episode series that will follow a Latino James Bond character.
Rodriguez is even stepping in to direct the pilot episode of the series, according to Deadline TV.
The television show will combine elements of the movie "Dusk Till Dawn" Rodriguez created with Quentin Tarantino along with a pitch by screenwriter Bob Orci.
The drama will center on a star soccer player and playboy who has a secret identity as “a highly skilled spy, carrying out covert missions for a special branch of the CIA.”
With Orci still working on the script for the pilot episode, the series is already expected to be a budget buster, with the cost of the show already above $40 million.
Rodriguez is betting big time on “high-end” dramas and is hoping to fill the network's lineup with this type of programming when it launches late 2013 or early 2014.
Last year, Rodriguez said the network will give second and third generation Latinos “something to identify with” while appealing to a mass audience.
“I have 5 children of my own. They are bilingual, like most second and third generations," Rodriguez told FOX News Latino.
"But they speak primarily in English and they couldn’t find anything on television that represented who they are in this country.”
He said he wants to change that with "El Rey."
"We know the audience is hungry for it," he said.
The network will have movies, TV shows, reality shows and animated features as well as Rodriguez’s signature explosive, action- filled entertainment, he said.
Rodriguez said he will use the same strategy he does with his films to make "El Rey" successful and relevant.
"This year makes 20 years that I made 'El Mariachi' and I was really determined to fill the screen with Latin faces, talent and ideas and stories but in a way that still appealed to the mass audience, the mass market," Rodriguez said.
The "Sin City" star also emphasized the importance of compelling content and creating "his own stars" which would open up doors for other Latinos.
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