Actress Diane Kruger arrives at the 2013 Vanity Fair Oscars Viewing and After Party on Sunday, Feb. 24 2013 in West Hollywood, Calif. New series from Billy Crystal, Kruger and horror master Guillermo del Toro are among the star-studded projects bound for FX Canada.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Jordan Strauss

TORONTO - New series from Billy Crystal, Diane Kruger and horror master Guillermo del Toro are among the star-studded projects bound for FX Canada.

The specialty channel announced its upcoming crop of shows at a breakfast event Wednesday hosted by FX Networks boss John Landgraf, series development head Eric Schrier and Rogers Media broadcast president Scott Moore.

Plans include a Canuck TV schedule that more closely matches FX in the United States, as well as a whole new younger-skewing channel set to launch in Canada next January. It'll be the homegrown counterpart to FXX, slated to begin south of the border in September.

In the meantime, FX Canada's summer lineup will be anchored by Kruger's crime drama "The Bridge," also starring Demián Bichir. It centres on two detectives — one from the United States and one from Mexico — who must work together to hunt down a serial killer operating on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. It starts July 10.

And the comedy "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (which has already been seen on Showcase and Bite) joins the roster July 4 with season eight. That will be quickly followed by season nine this fall when FX Canada becomes the show's exclusive Canadian broadcaster. Other returning shows include "Wilfred," with season three debuting June 20.

Big names are attached to projects expected further down the pipeline.

That includes the vampire thriller "The Strain," from del Toro, which is expected to shoot a pilot in Toronto this summer. It features Corey Stoll ("House of Cards") as a disease specialist in New York City who is called on to investigate a strange viral outbreak.

Oscar-winner Charlie Kaufman ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Being John Malkovich") is behind the comedy "How and Why." The half-hour series centres on a man who can explain how and why a nuclear reactor works, but is clueless about life.

Meanwhile, Crystal writes and stars in his decades-long return to TV, "The Comedians." The 30-minute, single-camera comedy centres on a superstar veteran comedian who is reluctantly paired with a younger, edgier comic for a late-night sketch show.

Also in the works is "Chozen," an animated comedy from Danny McBride about a white rapper, recently out of prison, who uses his new survival skills in his quest for redemption.

Returning shows this fall include a New Orleans-set "American Horror Story" — titled "Coven" and starring Kathy Bates and series regular Jessica Lange; season four of the biker drama "Sons of Anarchy" and season five of the fantasy football comedy "The League." Also back will be season two of the espionage drama, "The Americans."

Executives also announced a slew of limited-run series backed by movie heavyweights.

The first is the 10-episode "Fargo," slated for spring 2014 — it's based on the Coen Brothers' Oscar-winning crime drama and will centre on a new crime and new characters.

Also in development is "Grand Hotel," about an international luxury hotel in Paris that becomes the centre of a terrorist attack; "Mayflower," which is billed as "an unflinching portrait of the Puritan settlers" and their uneasy alliance with the local Native Americans; and "Sutton," about bank robber Willie (The Actor) Sutton.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2013