The Interior Chinatown Book Ending Has A Symbolic Message

Based on Charles Yu’s 2020 novel of the same name, Hulu’s Interior Chinatown is a layered, reality-bending tale that follows an actor named Willis Wu. He’s used to playing small, background roles — he calls them “Generic Asian Man” — on a police procedural called Black and White. But he dreams of working his way up to a bigger part, one he calls “Kung Fu Guy.”

Yu’s novel, which won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, often utilizes a screenplay format to not only illustrate Willis’ job but to represent the way he has seen himself as a predetermined character in someone else’s story. “This is really a book about roles and how we play them,” and “how roles can often be very limiting or reductive,” Yu said in a 2020 UC Berkeley interview.

As you tune into the series (which premiered on Nov. 19), here’s a brief plot summary — including the sweet, meaningful Interior Chinatown book ending.

The Family Business

Willis comes from a family of actors and lists the stereotypical roles they have often been tasked with playing. Growing up, his mother once told him to “be more” than the Kung Fu Guy he so aspired to be.

But it remains Willis’ goal into adulthood. His father and brother, who’s since left acting altogether, once worked together on their own show, and he hopes to ascend the field himself.

All the while, Willis is aware of the challenges that come with that goal. At one point, in a dreamlike sequence where he imagines the fictional detective from Black and White is speaking to him, he’s told, “Working your way up the system doesn’t mean you beat the system. It strengthens it.”

A Change Of Direction

Soon, Willis meets a fellow Black and White actor, Karen Lee, who shares his Taiwanese background. They marry and welcome a daughter, Phoebe.

But when Karen is offered her own show — which comes with a part for Willis — they separate. Willis doesn’t want to leave Chinatown and give up his goal of becoming a Kung Fu Guy, so Karen and Phoebe move on their own.

Several years later, Willis gets the part he’s dreamed of. But he immediately realizes he’s made a mistake and reunites with Karen and Phoebe. He also catches up with his brother, who is revealed to have left acting for law school. The book employs a courtroom drama-esque scene to show his brother demonstrating before a judge the racism that they’ve experienced as so-called “Generic Asian Men” in America.

At the end of this dreamlike sequence, Willis and his brother use kung fu to escape the courtroom, after which Willis’ character is “killed.” In real life, though, it represents him embracing a new role — a fully involved family man.

The book ends with the scene heading “EXT. CHINATOWN,” bookending Willis’ journey and illustrating his desire to step outside the system that defined so much of his life.