Jimmy O. Yang is stepping out of the background and into the action in “Interior Chinatown.”
In the trailer for “Interior Chinatown,” Yang’s Willis Wu laments that he lives a relatively simple life, feeling like a background character as he works at a restaurant in Chinatown, when in fact, he has unknowingly been relegated to the background of a police procedural titled “Black & White.”
“Nothing ever changes — nothing exciting ever happens to me or you or anyone we know,” Yang’s Willis tells to his coworker and friend, found in Ronny Chieng. “I feel like I’m a background character in someone else’s story.”
Just as soon as he can blink, Willis’ fate changes as he’s plunged into the action when he inadvertently witnesses a crime outside the restaurant.
Cue Chloe Bennet’s Detective Lana Lee, who, after being solely viewed on the TV by Willis and his cowowkers, shows up to Willis’ restaurant and asks for his help to solve a string of crimes happening in Chinatown.
“You know Chinatown better than I do — I need someone on the inside,” Lana tells Willis. “There’s something going on in Chinatown — a pattern of incidents I don’t yet understand.”
The stakes are heightened for Willis when he learns that his brother, who disappeared 10 years ago, was working with the police, and will do whatever he must to find him.
Suddenly, Willis’ life as a background character has drastically changed as he becomes the center of a jam-packed action saga, filled with plenty of kung fu. Still, Willis is convinced that “guys like us don’t become the hero.”
In addition to Yang, Chieng and Bennet, “Interior Chinatown” stars Lisa Gilroy, Sullivan Jones, Archie Kao and Diana Lin. The series is created by Charles Yu, who wrote the book of the same name, who executive produces alongside Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore for Rideback; Jeff Skoll, Miura Kite and Elsie Choi for Participant; Garrett Basch for Dive; John Lee; and Taika Waititi, who also directed the pilot.
All ten episodes of “Interior Chinatown” premiere Nov. 19 on Hulu.
