Jamie Bell stars in “TURN: Washington’s Spies”

AMC is becoming the place to go for period dramas.

The cable network has a number of shows on its roster that put a magnifying glass on periods and events in history that the general population may not know about in detail. The critically acclaimed "Mad Men," the network's first original drama series, focuses on the world of advertising on Madison Avenue in the 1960s. "Hell on Wheels" is a Western about the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s, and "Halt and Catch Fire," which premiered last year, gives an insider's view of the personal computer revolution of the 1980s.

"TURN: Washington's Spies" goes back farther than any of them. Based on Alexander Rose's book, "Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring," the series takes place in Setauket, New York, in the 1770s, during the American Revolution. A group of childhood friends come together to form a spy ring and help turn the tide of the war against the British. The second season premiered last month and airs a new episode Monday, May 11, on AMC.

Jamie Bell ("Jumper," 2008) leads the large cast as Abraham Woodhull, a young cabbage farmer and son of the local magistrate. When the series opens, Abe is a fairly unremarkable character living an ordinary life with his wife and baby. Like many in his community, he resents the British occupation, but it isn't in him to take a stand against it and rock the boat -- particularly since his father is loyal to the British Crown.

Throughout the season, we see a marked change in the initially passive Abe after he's approached by his longtime friend Benjamin Tallmadge (Seth Numrich, "Gravity"), a Continental Dragoon in Washington's (Ian Kahn, "The Box," 2009) army. Ben is actually the catalyst for the Culper Ring, as the group of spies is called. His idea is for a group of common, everyday people behind enemy lines to relay pertinent information to Washington, who needs eyes and ears in New York where the British are garrisoned. Along with Abe, Caleb Brewster (Daniel Henshall, "The Babadook," 2014) and Anna Strong (Heather Lind, "A Single Shot," 2013) -- both of whom the two men have known since childhood -- risk their lives to take a stand against British rule.

Season 1 ended with the aftermath of the Battle of Setauket. The Culper Ring has become solidified, and Abe has not only proven himself to be an active and important member of the group, but has gone to great lengths to protect it.

"If season 1 was about the formation of America's first spy ring, season 2 is about seeing that ring in action," said executive producer Craig Silverstein in an AMC promotional video. "[Abe] is no longer the reluctant spy, but he is the spy who's doubled-down. He's going to do anything it takes."

Seth Numrich as seen in “TURN: Washington’s Spies”

The thrilling season 1 finale may just have been the clincher for the series getting renewed for a second season, pulling in 1.61 million American viewers -- the most since the second episode. In general, the ratings haven't been exceptionally high and reviews have been mixed, though critics who weren't entirely sold on the spy thriller angle still tend to praise the historical content.

Indeed, Woodhull, Tallmadge, Strong and many more were real players in the American Revolution. More recognizable are figures such as George Washington, and that famed traitor, Benedict Arnold (Owain Yeoman, "The Mentalist"), who appears in season 2. It's the everyman nature of characters such as Abe, however, that makes this lesser-known viewpoint of the War of Independence a compelling one.

"This is an ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation," Bell said of his character to the "New York Observer."

"I don't think many English people learned about these aspects of the war and, in America, I think you learn about the Founding Fathers, but maybe not about the intricacies of what really happened during the war. [The show is] about how this country came to be."

The season 2 premiere drew fewer than a million U.S. viewers, but that doesn't mean the show can't still take off. "Breaking Bad," after all, wasn't an instant hit, either. It had a slow burn before becoming one of the most-watched cable shows on American television and is now considered one of the greatest series of all time.

"It is a show built to grow," Silverstein said of "TURN" in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly." "Sometimes in this crowded landscape, with so many good shows, the audience needs to know that a show is there and survived, and then they give it a bit of respect and start to watch it."

So long as the current season can mimic the last in its upward trajectory, "TURN: Washington's Spies" may have a lot of life left in it yet. After all, the war is far from over.

You don't need to be a history buff to enjoy a series like this one. Espionage and loyalty are just as important to the story being told as the war itself. Catch up on "TURN: Washington's Spies" to get a lesser-known look at how the United States of America came to be. A new episode of the historical drama airs Monday, May 11, on AMC.