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Kumail Nanjiani Teases Hulu's Upcoming Chippendales-Based Series 'Is Really Wild'

Kumail Nanjiani attends the 2022 ABC Disney Upfront at Basketball City - Pier 36 - South Street on May 17, 2022 in New York City.
Kumail Nanjiani attends the 2022 ABC Disney Upfront at Basketball City - Pier 36 - South Street on May 17, 2022 in New York City.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Kumail Nanjiani is ready to bring the story of Chippendales to the small screen.

While attending the Disney Upfronts in New York City on Tuesday afternoon, the actor chatted with PEOPLE about his upcoming Hulu series Welcome to Chippendales, which follows the story of the company and founder Somen "Steve" Banerjee.

"People don't know that the real story of it is really wild," Nanjiani, 44, told PEOPLE exclusively on the red carpet. "Some really surprising stuff happened, and it's surprising that people don't really know about it."

Noting that "there's a lot of twists and turns" within the series, the Eternals star detailed that "the show itself spans 15 years from the beginning, all through [the Chippendales] hype, to sort of when it started being less popular."

"The behind-the-scenes stuff that happens is crazy. It's enough for, like, 10 podcasts," Nanjiani added with a laugh.

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Kumail Nanjiani and Somen “Steve” Banerjee
Kumail Nanjiani and Somen “Steve” Banerjee

Tim P. Whitby/Getty, Amazon Prime Video UK/YouTube

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Welcome to Chippendales, an eight-episode limited series, will tell the "insane, darkly comedic, crime-ridden story behind the unique male revue that became a cultural phenomenon."

The late Banerjee was an Indian American entrepreneur who struck gold in 1979 when he added a male stripper dance troupe for female audiences to the lineup at his Los Angeles nightclub. The first of its kind, the Chippendales have evolved to performing Broadway-style burlesque shows all over the world and at their flagship venue in Las Vegas.

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Dancers of the Chippendales perform at the Mehr! theatre at the Grossmarkt in Hamburg, Germany, 10 November, 2017
Dancers of the Chippendales perform at the Mehr! theatre at the Grossmarkt in Hamburg, Germany, 10 November, 2017

Markus Scholz/picture alliance via Getty

Banerjee's legacy is shrouded in scandal, however. Hours before he was to be sentenced in 1994 for having his business partner, Emmy-winning director and choreographer Nick De Noia, killed in 1987, Banerjee died by suicide.

He was also indicted for plotting to kill some former Chippendale dancers he allegedly considered a threat.

RELATED VIDEO: How an Ex-Chippendales Dancer Survived a Murder Plot Hatched by His Boss: 'I Slept with the Lights on'

Welcome to Chippendales is written by Robert Siegel. In addition to his starring role, Nanjiani serves as an executive producer alongside his wife, Emily V. Gordon, and others including Dylan Sellers and Chris Parker of Limelight, as well as Rajiv Joseph and Mehar Sethi, who are also writers on the series.

Getting to portray Banerjee on the show, Nanjiani told PEOPLE, was a role unlike any other for him.

"I kind of like playing sort of bad guys. It's fun," the star said with a grin. "You get to be like, 'How would I decide that I want to do something bad to somebody?' "

"I love doing that," The Big Sick and Silicon Valley actor added. "I want to play more bad guys."

A release date for Welcome to Chippendales has not yet been announced by Hulu.