Hulu Offers First Look at Charles Yu’s ‘Interior Chinatown’ Adaptation

Generic Asian Man is finally the lead of a real television show! Today, Hulu revealed a first look at the adaptation of Charles Yu’s National Book Award-winning novel, Interior Chinatown. While the book itself was formatted like a television script, the series will not be a one-for-one adaptation but will retain the original’s satirical spirit.

Fortunately for fans of the original, Yu is showrunning the adaptation which will still center Willis Wu — played by Jimmy O. Yang — and his role in the background of the fictional police procedural, Black and White. The official synopsis of the series gives a hint at where the show might diverge from the novel:

Relegated to the background, Willis goes through the motions of his on-screen job, waiting tables and dreaming about a whole world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web in Chinatown, his family’s buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight.

Joining Yang in the cast are Chloe Bennet, Ronny Chieng, Lisa Gilroy, Sullivan Jones, Archie Kao, and Diana Lin. Taika Waititi directs the pilot and also serves as Executive Producer.

All episodes of Interior Chinatown will debut on Hulu on November 19.