In the Hulu series “Interior Chinatown,” an average guy named Willis Wu works in his uncle’s Chinatown restaurant. Or so we think. Gradually, it’s revealed that he’s actually a TV character forever trapped in the background of a police procedural.

Basically, he’s kind of an NPC [non playable character], if you play video games, or a nonspeaking character on a TV show. But to him, this is just reality. It’s just that his reality happens to look a lot like a ‘90s police procedural.

Its Cast Has Faced Hollywood Struggles Uncannily Like Its Characters Jimmy O. Yang once played “Chinese Teenager #1.” He's now No. 1 on the call sheet in “Interior Chinatown” — despite playing downtrodden background actor Willis Wu in the new Hulu series.

For “Interior Chinatown” star Jimmy O. Yang, playing an invisible Chinatown extra in the new series hit close to home.

The novel "Interior Chinatown" is formatted like a script, taking its title from the screenwriting convention of beginning scenes by indicating whether they take place indoors or out. Its author, Charles Yu,

Adapted by Charles Yu from his own novel, this series about a man stuck inside a cop show satirizes Hollywood’s penchant for pigeonholing Asian actors.

There’s an inherent power in the art of the meta-narrative—stories that construct an obviously fictional, heightened version of a reality we recognize, only to peel back the layers one by one, exposing a truth we may have never allowed ourselves to acknowledge.