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I'm watching the S6E6 of The Expanse. There's a part of the episode where they are starting to track vital signs of individuals who are deploying. On the screen, there's four names which stood out to me. Those being: Ripley, Hicks, Hudson, & Vasquez. All four of these are prominent characters in the 1986 movie Aliens. All four of the names are displayed together in the center of the screen. The first initials are shown as well in the episode, which also corresponds with the movie:

(Note: Name show on the screen in The Expanse followed by first name of the character in Aliens in parens)

EDIT: (To add image)

enter image description here

Is there any correlation between the two or is this just pure coincidence?

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    It's not uncommon for shows like this to have Easter eggs of this sort. In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 episode The Neutral Zone, a character's family tree includes the original 7 actors who played Doctor Who.
    – HorusKol
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 5:10
  • Here is a link to another question about that topic and lists of the character names referened. scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/259384/…
    – M. A. Golding
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 19:28
  • @M.A.Golding - Yah, had no clue that question existed on scifi.SE. Not quite the same question, but pretty much the same theme. Thanks for the link.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 19:40
  • @HorusKol Speaking of TNG, note "Riker, W" at the bottom right.
    – Flater
    Commented Jan 22, 2022 at 16:25

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This is not a coincidence - but it doesn't necessarily mean that there's any kind of link between the Aliens universe and the Expanse. These are just the kind of easter egg reference that creators of sci-fi like to drop in their works as they are also huge fans themselves.

According to this article from Forbes there are multiple references to characters across science-fiction on the graphic where you saw the four Aliens characters.

  • Bobbie Draper – The Expanse (duh)
  • Amos Burton – The Expanse
  • Gial Ackbar – Star Wars
  • Douglas Quaid – Total Recall
  • David Bowman – 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Commander Shepard – Mass Effect
  • Duncan Idaho – Dune
  • Alex Rogan – The Last Starfighter
  • Jason Nesmith – Galaxy Quest
  • Edward Buck – Halo
  • Shaenon K. Garrity – Author
  • Ellen Ripley – Alien
  • Dwayne Hicks- Aliens
  • Jenette Vasquez – Aliens
  • William Hudson – Aliens
  • Joseph Cooper – Interstellar
  • John Anderton – Minority Report
  • Rick Deckard – Blade Runner
  • Jack O’Neill – Stargate
  • Lone Starr – Spaceballs
  • Louise Banks – Arrival
  • Kevin Flynn – Tron
  • Roy Neary – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • John Rico – Starship Troopers
  • Kara Thrace – Battlestar Galactica
  • Sarah Connor – Terminator
  • Ryan Stone – Gravity
  • William Riker – Star Trek
  • H. Ochiai, R. Levine – Not tributes, just script names, confirmed by crew

Screengrab as published on forbes.com

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    According to showrunner Naren Shankar: "...Kathleen Garrity, Hidy Ochai, and Rob Levine were, respectively, my karate teacher, sensei, and black belt, in college." twitter.com/narenshankar/status/1482162874130657281
    – jeffronicus
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 15:56
  • By my question, I wasn't trying to assume an "in universe" connection between Aliens and The Expanse. I was trying to figure out if these names were taken out of Aliens (and I guess other movies) and put in here on purpose or if it was coincidence. From what you've stated, seems they were put there on purpose.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 19:33

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