Kissing Booth's Taylor Zakhar Perez on baring it all in HBO Max's 'scandalous' Minx

Taylor Zakhar Perez knows the internet has a lot of love for his shirtless photos and swooned over his breakout role in Netflix's Kissing Booth 2, but he's still preparing himself for the reaction to his even more revealing role in HBO Max's new period dramedy Minx.

Perez makes quite an entrance in the first episode of Minx (launching March 17, with two new episodes debuting each week through April 14), with his firefighter character, Shane, quickly becoming the frontrunner for debut-issue cover star of the first erotic magazine for women.

EW can exclusively share Shane's cover, revealed as part of an Instagram Live with Perez earlier today. During the Live (a portion of which is viewable above and the entirety of which will be posted on EW's YouTube channel soon), the actor discussed working with Ophelia Lovibond and Jake Johnson on Minx, stepping into the 1970s, and wearing a prosthetic pecker on the new streaming series.

Perez likened Shane's emotionally immature, vapid facade to that of Kelso in That '70s Show, noting that the Ashton Kutcher character shares a similar unexpected emotional depth.

"When [people] see a stereotypical dumb blonde or dumb jock, they go straight to [thinking] they don't have emotion, they don't understand the world, they're unintelligent," Perez told EW. "I knew from the beginning that he wasn't that. The biggest thing was grounding him, making him likable, and also playing against the line."

With Shane stepping into his erotic modeling career, nudity was inevitable. After a history of female nudity dominating TV, Minx is joining a list of recent shows not shying away from (a lot of) male nudity.

"I'm all for it. If the project and the scenes call for it, why not?" said Perez, whose character serves as a vehicle through whom to discuss the female gaze. "But I think just to throw a bare-chested woman or ass-out guy into the scene without it making sense, then it's gratuitous and takes away from the quality of the content."

The 30-year-old actor knows Shane is quite a pivot after his turns as Marcos in Netflix's family-friendlier The Kissing Booth 2 and 3. "It's funny going from playing a 17-18 year old kid a few years ago and being in a different type of project," Perez said. "The show is very scandalous. I think it's going to be exciting, fun, and just like a 'wow' moment."

While Perez is ready for Shane — whom he describes as a "'70s snack" — to hit the screen, he still has some understandable hesitations about how exposed his character is on the show.

"I haven't been this excited for a show in a long time. The world's just really going to enjoy it. I think it'll be shocking at first," Perez said with a laugh. "But I think when my mom sees it is when I will be a little freaked out."

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