Never Have I Ever’s Poorna Jagannathan stars in new Disney+ and Hulu series Deli Boys as Lucky, the hard-nosed aunt of two brothers who discover their father was a criminal mastermind

Poorna Jagannathan, widely recognised for her role as Nalini Vishwakumar in the Netflix smash Never Have I Ever, has revealed why she was eager to say “yes” to Disney+ and Hulu’s new crime comedy Deli Boys.

Despite her character only having a brief appearance in the first episode’s finale, she was captivated by the script and signed on for the part of Lucky, the sharp-witted aunt in the series created by Abdullah Saeed.

Portraying Lucky—a far cry from her previous on-screen persona—Jagannathan enters the world of Mir (played by Asif Ali) and Raj Dar (Saagar Shaikh), two Pakistani American brothers who inherit the shock that their affluent father had a hidden criminal business following his unexpected death.

Taking no prisoners, Lucky schools her nephews in the harsh realities of maintaining the family enterprise, thrusting them into shady mob dealings where life and death decisions are par for the course.

Chatting with Express Online, Jagannathan gushed about her decision: “When I read the pilot – because we usually just get one script and you have to make so many assumptions and you take such a leap of faith off of one script – but my character was so funny and so fantastic in the pilot. But she only comes in at the end.”

“The script just hung together with a tension. What I love about comedy is when there’s a beautiful and intimate and heartfelt moment – then there’s a bullet to the head right after.”

She continued, highlighting the element of surprise as a strong suit of the script: “Just the sweet tension, it’s so unexpected. The script does that, holds that tension the entire time. So I love the dark, absurd comedy that Abdullah had written”, reports the Express.

Jagannathan immediately establishes herself as a force not to be reckoned with in the first episode, which dropped alongside all 10 parts of the first season yesterday (Thursday, 6th March). Jagannathan, known for her role in Never Have I Ever, was eager to delve into Lucky’s complex personality.

“And, of course, this character… when I read the pilot I had no idea the trajectory this character would take,” said Jagannathan. She highlighted the dichotomy of Lucky’s nurture and ferocity, detailing how she is nurturing one moment and lethal the next.

“But she’s that duality, she’s nurturing and lovely and loving and feeds the boys in one scene and then has killed 10 people before she’s had her morning coffee!”

“It’s just this beautiful tightrope that she walks and the script works so I was drawn to the comedy and I was drawn to the fact that I get the opportunity to play a character that is so over the top fierce. A character that’s so over the top but also my aim was, ‘How do you keep this character still grounded and relatable and in this world?'”

The ensemble cast also experienced an instant bond, notably the central team including Brian George as uncle Ahmad and Alfie Fuller as Raj’s shaman, Prairie.

“It was instant chemistry between the five of us in the main cast,” she added. “And we have the honour of having unbelievable recurring and guest stars.”

The series boasts appearances from an array of familiar faces, including the Queer Eye sensation Tan France, comedic talent Tim Baltz, and esteemed actors Sakina Jaffrey and Iqbal Theba. “We had the remarkable honour of it feeling like the best set on Earth every single day,” she added.

“All of us always came together, no matter if it was just the three of us, the five of us or tons of us, like the wedding scene. We just always want to hang out together.”

Fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the stellar first season of Deli Boys will captivate audiences enough to reunite the quirky Dar family for another series.

Deli Boys is available to stream on Disney+.