Gabriel Luna has been cast in the title role of Matador, the upcoming action drama series for Robert Rodriguez‘s El Rey Network, created by Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Deadline said.

Matador chronicles the unlikely rise of Antonio “Matador” Bravo (Luna), a popular soccer star who in reality uses his sports career for a cover as a skilled covert operative executing missions for a little known branch of the CIA. The character is described as a Latino take on James Bond.

Matador, El Rey’s second original scripted series after the upcoming From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, will start production in Los Angeles at the end of March, with Rodriguez directing the first episode and Nicky Whelan playing the female lead.

It is slated to premiere following the World Cup in July 2014. Executive producing are Orci and Kurtzman, who wrote the first episode with showrunners Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin, as well as Heather Kadin of K/O Paper Products; and Rodriguez along with El Rey co-founders John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa.

Luna also plays a lead in the upcoming feature Intramural.