Chris Pang has joined Hulu’s Interior Chinatown in a pivotal recurring role.
The casting marks a reunion with Interior Chinatown lead Jimmy O. Yang. The two were in Crazy Rich Asians together, where Yang’s Bernard threw Pang’s Colin a bachelor bacchanal aboard a cargo ship in international waters. This time around, Pang plays Older Brother, the charming and talented beloved sibling of protagonist Willis Wu (Yang) whose mysterious disappearance years ago tore the family apart. Now, Willis has an opportunity to investigate his brother’s case when Det. Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet) arrives in the neighborhood with new information.
Interior Chinatown is based on the National Book Award-winning novel of the same name from Charles Yu, who serves as showrunner and is an executive producer on the project alongside Rideback’s Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore and Elsie Choi, Participant’s Jeff Skoll, Miura Kite and Dive’s Garrett Basch as well as Taika Waititi, who directed the pilot. The story is a satirical, somewhat fourth-wall-breaking narrative about Willis, a background character in a police procedural called Black & White. The show, from studio 20th Television, is being described as a dramedy in tone, and its series regulars also include Ronny Chieng as Willis’ friend Fatty Choi, Sullivan Jones and Lisa Gilroy as the Black & White lead detectives Turner and Green, Archie Kao as Uncle Wong and Diana Lin as Willis’ mother, Lily. Tzi Ma recurs as Willis’ father, Joe. The latter two castings mark another reunion, as Lin and Ma played Awkwafina’s parents in The Farewell.
Maury Sterling and Spencer Neville are also joining the cast in the recurring roles of Carrey and McDonough, the original detective partners on Black & White.
Pang will next be seen in Lionsgate’s summer raunch-com Joy Ride, the directorial debut of Crazy Rich Asians co-screenwriter Adele Lim. The Australian actor’s credits also include Netflix and Universal’s Blade of the 47 Ronin, Palm Springs and the Charlie’s Angels reboot. He is represented by Australia’s Active Artists Management, UTA, Stride and Jackoway Austen. Sterling’s credits include NCIS: Hawai’i, The Rookie and Homeland, where he played Carrie’s private surveillance consultant Max Piotrowski across all eight seasons of the show. He is repped by Innovative and Forward. Neville was recently seen in Sony’s Devotion as well as on The Sex Lives of College Girls and American Horror Stories. He is repped by Buchwald and 3 Arts.
