15 Unlikely Movies and TV Shows That Exist in the Same Universe
Let’s face it: Our universe is simply not cool enough for a movie. We don’t have superheroes or aliens or TV stars that happen to be anthropomorphic, alcoholic horses, so we assume most movies and TV shows exist in their own universes like snow globes we can shake when we’re too tired to read. It turns out, though, that some of those snow globes are awfully crowded.
Scream and Clerks
(Dimension Films)
Jay and Silent Bob are briefly seen in Scream 3 touring the studio where Stab 3 is being filmed and harassing Courteney Cox. It turns out it’s just this universe where people obsess over movies and we’re the weird ones.
Dawson’s Creek and Californication
(Sony Pictures Television)
Not one but two Dawson’s Creek characters, David Wilder and Todd Carr/Ronny Praeger (the latter clearly a fake name after the onetime movie director pivots to porn), show up in Californication, which makes sense because the creator used to be a writer on Dawson’s Creek in possibly one of the whiplashiest promotions in Hollywood. The show Dawson’s Creek also exists in the Californication universe, but it does on Dawson’s Creek, too. It’s very complicated.
Indiana Jones and Star Wars
Of course, both franchises were created by George Lucas, but there’s no reason to think they don’t take place in different universes until you notice characters and scenes from Star Wars carved into the Well of Souls in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Them Solo genes are strong.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Star Wars
(20th Century Fox)
E.T. recognizes a child dressed as Yoda for Halloween, suggesting he comes from a galaxy far, far away, but it goes way deeper than that. Three members of E.T.’s species later appear in The Phantom Menace, and Expanded Universes gonna expand, so there’s way too much information about that out there for those nerdy enough to seek it.
The Office and Heroes
Two of NBC’s most popular 2000s shows are connected by an entirely different TV show, Las Vegas, which takes place at a resort and casino visited by characters from Heroes and claimed in one episode to be hosting a convention for Dunder-Mifflin. That means that film crew lives in a world of superheroes and decided to make a documentary about a paper company.
Orange is the New Black and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
(Netflix)
After Kimmy’s former cultmate Gretchen is arrested for trying to start her own cult, she ends up -- where else? -- but Litchfield Penitentiary. Where she seems to be swaying Black Cindy over to her side. Black Cindy, nooooo.
Orange is the New Black and Bojack Horseman
(Netflix)
Character actress Margot Martindale also appeared to be serving her sentence for her many crimes at Litchfield, which suggests a whole galaxy of Netflix characters living in a world of talking animals. That means John Green exists in Hollywoo, too. Here’s hoping he’s coping with that.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and 30 Rock
(NBC)
Further deepening the talking animals extended universe, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and 30 Rock share several minor characters, including a construction worker who ends up dating Titus and an apathetic drugstore cashier named LaDonica. It’s understandable because Tina Fey was the brains behind both shows, but what are the chances Bojack didn’t guest star on Tracy Jordan’s show?
30 Rock and Mad Men
Liz Lemon’s mom mentions that she worked as a secretary at Sterling Cooper, so it cannot be stressed enough that, in the world of Mad Men, the most famous athlete is a cigarette-smoking horse with John Krasinski’s voice.
The X-Files and Veronica Mars
(Warner Bros.)
A mugshot of the same serial killer is seen in both shows, and their characters use the same fictional car rental agency, yet Veronica sadly never investigates an alien.
Alias and Lost
If you didn’t realize J.J. Abrams was behind both shows, you might have been very confused to find the characters of Alias listening to Charlie’s band’s song at a party. If only Sydney had been sent to spy on the island, we might have found out much sooner how stupid it was.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The John Larroquette Show
Several franchises have featured businesses named Yoyodyne in a nod to Thomas Pynchon, so if we accept the premise that it’s too weird of a name for them to all independently come up with it, that connects universes as uncomfortably different as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, and the freaking John Larroquette Show.
Spy Kids and Machete
(Dimension Films)
The Spy Kids have an uncle named Machete played by Danny Trejo, for whom things subsequently go very bad, apparently. Robert Rodriguez has confirmed that they are, in fact, the same character, but “alternate universe” versions of him, unsettlingly suggesting the Spy Kids multiverse.
The John Munch Universe
(20th Century Fox)
Everyone’s favorite normal-butted Law & Order detective has appeared everywhere from Arrested Development to The X-Files to The Wire to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. No wonder the legal system works so uncommonly well in those series. It must also be pointed out, again, that this means John Munch also knows about the talking animal stars.
Conan the Barbarian and the Cthulhu Mythos
(Universal Pictures)
Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, was part of a whole circle of writers Lovecraft invited to collaborate on his Cthulhu mythos, so Howard’s stories reference “the Old Ones” and Lovecraft’s mention Cimmeria. Does this mean Arnold is an otherworldly monster? Probably. What man could be that jacked?
Top image: Netflix
