FX is home to some of the best dramas on television including Sons of Anarchy and American Horror Story. Now, with one of its most prominent hits coming to a close, the network’s eager to expand its slate; and to do so, the basic cable station has turned to actor Tom Hardy and a new BBC show named Taboo.

In an announcement made today, FX has picked up the Hardy-created Taboo, a new period-piece drama with Ridley Scott set to produce and Steven Knight (who directed Hardy in the one-man film Locke) to write.

Said FX of the pick-up:

Set in 1813, Taboo is based on an original story by Hardy and his father, Chips Hardy. In Taboo, Hardy plays the lead role of “James Keziah Delaney,” a rogue adventurer who returns from Africa with 14 ill-gotten diamonds to seek vengeance after the death of his father. Refusing to sell the family business to the East India Company, he sets out to build his own trade and shipping empire and finds himself playing a very dangerous game.

The network goes on to explain the series will begin production in the UK on an 8-episode season 1 in mid-late 2015 and will premiere on BBC One overseas, which means a 2016 start date for the US.

It’s interesting that FX picked Taboo up when it’s already hard at work on its own new period drama, The Bastard Executioner, from Sons of Anarchy creator and showrunner Kurt Sutter (who continues to delivery terrific writing in his FX show’s final season). Considering the close connection the two programs will obviously share in terms of tone, it seems a safe bet the home of Louie is hoping to launch Taboo now and hopefully pair it with TBX in a block they can turn into a powerhouse night of mature, period drama.

The series will also mark another television run for Hardy who recently teamed with Knight on Peaky Blinders, the second season of which just premiered on Netflix in the US. This, in addition to Hardy’s upcoming appearance in Mad Max: Fury Road, allows him a certain level of clout that goes a long way on American television, especially at a network like FX that has already banked on proven star power such as Timothy Olyphant and Denis Leary to help sell various shows to a global audience.

Considering their current track-record, there’s no reason to question anything FX does at the moment, so all we ask is Taboo be of the quality we’ve come to expect from the network and everything should be just fine.

We’ll keep you up to speed on Taboo news as it comes our way.