Tom Hiddleston is officially heading to the small screen. The actor, who’s known for his role as the villainous Loki in Marvel’s Thor, will soon be switching gears and playing the good guy in AMC’s upcoming miniseries, The Night Manager.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network has handed out a straight-to-series pickup for the limited series after winning a bidding war against several other channels. AMC has recently been looking to boost its original scripted content and The Night Manager seems to be a smart choice towards this effort. The miniseries, based on John le Carré’s 1993 novel of the same name, could rival HBO’s True Detective in terms of top-notch casting and the crime thriller storyline.

In addition to Hiddleston, the drama will also feature fellow British actor and House star, Hugh Laurie. The show will chronicle the story of Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston), a former British soldier turned luxury hotel night auditor who faces off against an English black market dealer (Laurie) in order to avenge the death of a French-Arab woman named Sophie. In order to complete his mission, Pine must work with intelligence operatives and go undercover as part of a sting meant to trap Roper and bring him to justice.

Though AMC has yet to publicly confirm any details, the show will reportedly have either a six or eight-part run. The miniseries is being developed in partnership with BBC, which will air the series in the U.K. David Farr (Hanna) is set to the pen the adaptation, while AMC, BBC One, and Ink Factory (A Most Wanted Man) will act as co-producers for the project.

The Night Manager will mark Hiddleston’s most notable American TV role to date. The Avengers star is a veteran of British television, having been prominently featured in series like Suburban Shootout and Wallander. Until now though, he has only held voiceover parts on U.S. television, with recent guest roles on Robot Chicken and Family Guy. But while his small screen presence may only just be growing stateside, his film career has already enjoyed a massive boom, at least partly thanks to his widely popular performance as the evil superhero, Loki. In fact, it’s impressive that the actor has managed to find time for even the limited time miniseries, given his jam-packed schedule in upcoming months. In addition to reprising his villainous role in future Marvel flicks, he’s also currently filming the Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light. He also has both Guillermo Del Toro’s horror flick Crimson Peaks and the sci-fi thriller High-Rise in post-production, with each set to premiere next year.

As for Laurie, the show will signify the actor’s first return to TV since his Emmy-nominated turn on the long-running medical drama, House. The actor is also starring in Brad Bird’s time-transcending mystery, Tomorrowland, out next spring.

The show also marks a notable step for AMC, as the network looks to return to form and move away from unscripted fare in favor of award-worthy, scripted originals. This is their first miniseries since 2006’s Robert Duvall-starring Broken Trail, which earned 16 Emmy nominations and took home four. Since then, the channel has launched other hugely succesful series like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Walking Dead (which was just renewed for a sixth season) and is currently developing the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul, the martial arts drama Badlands, and the sci-fi series Humans. With accomplished actors like Hiddleston and Laurie in the leads, The Night Manager could easily become the network’s next critically acclaimed hit and help put AMC in the same ranks as HBO and FX in the increasingly popular miniseries category.

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