Two Of Andy Weir's Books Share A Sci-Fi Universe - But He's Legally Not Allowed To Confirm It

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Andy Weir has ascended the list of notable science fiction creators in recent years. He has come a long way since publishing his first sci-fi book, "The Martian," as a blog post before it became a best-selling novel. That book also eventually became a huge blockbuster movie directed by Ridley Scott ("Gladiator") starring Matt Damon ("Saving Private Ryan"). As it turns out, his follow-up novel is technically connected to "The Martian," but legal issues get in the way of him confirming that officially.

In an interview with Maude Garrett on her YouTube channel in 2024, Weir touched on a fan question speculating that "The Martian" and "Artemis" take place in the same universe. Mind you, this was long before "Project Hail Mary" became one of the best sci-fi movies of 2026, thus giving him even more notoriety. In any event, the author all but confirmed the theory, with a major caveat. Here's what he had to say about it:

"I can't officially state that 'The Martian' and 'Artemis' take place in the same continuity because that would mean that 'Artemis' is a derivative work and that would activate a bunch of contracts. But I can say that the groundskeeper of Aldrin Park in 'Artemis' is about 80 years old, you never find out what his name is, but somebody says, 'Isn't your name Mike?' And he's like, 'Nope.' He says he likes plants and he used to travel a lot for work."

"The Martian" takes place after a dust storm on Mars nearly kills Mark Watney, forcing his crew to evacuate the planet. He finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to tell Earth that he's alive, leading to a harrowing tale of survival. For what it's worth, Weir was a fan of Scott and Damon's adaptation.

As for "Artemis," it takes place on the first city built by man on the Moon and centers on Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara, who is seeking to make enough money to escape debt and her crumby life. An opportunity for a huge score finally comes her way, but it puts her in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis.

What Andy Weir implies strongly, without coming out and saying it, for legal reasons, is that Mark Watney, who was a botanist in "The Martian," ended up becoming the groundskeeper in "Artemis." As such, it would be a sequel of sorts to "The Martian," providing a bit of additional closure for Mark's character following his adventure on Mars. Unfortunately, for contractual reasons, this can only be implied, not set in stone.

This sort of thing happens all the time in the world of entertainment. Legal red tape often gets in the way of good things. "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash" never became a movie in no small part because too many competing partners needed a slice of the pie. So, as cool as this notion of an Andy Weir science fiction universe might be for fans of the author's, not much is ever likely to come of it.

Then again, who knows? Stranger things have happened. Weir once wrote a short story as a prequel to "Ready Player One" that was eventually incorporated into the official canon. If his first novel started as a blog post and then became a best-selling novel, and fan fiction eventually became canon, it's hard to rule anything out in Weir's world.

You can grab a copy of "The Martian" on Amazon.