Unless you are a movie critic or someone with ties to the industry, chances are you haven't gotten to see The Hateful Eight yet. It doesn't open until Christmas day, arriving in a limited 100 theaters as part of a 70mm Roadshow. It will open wide the following weekend, on December 31. And at that time, we're sure to become familiar with director Quentin Tarantino's colorful cadre of characters played by an all-star cast. But right now, we know little about them. In a recent interview, Tim Roth let it slip that the movie is actually tied into one of the director's previous epics.

All of the movies held within Quentin Tarantino's movie universe are somehow tied together. This time, we're getting a crossover between The Hateful Eight and his WWII adventure Inglourious Basterds. The Hateful Eight, described as a revenge Western, actually started out as a sequel to Django Unchained. But now, it will be referred to in some circles as a Basterds prequel. Tim Roth describes the movie as 'rip-roaring' and says it offers up more than one nod to Reservoir Dogs. But his character The Little Man isn't related to Mr. Orange. His new role as Oswaldo Mobray is actually connected to someone else in the Tarantinoverse. Says the actor.

"He's connected to one of the characters. I won't say which one. He's the great, great grandfather of one of the characters in Inglourious Basterds..."

Without having seen the movie, it might be hard to guess who Mobray is related to. But in The Hateful Eight, true to Quentin Tarantino's signature style, all of the characters get nicknames. And As we mentioned, Oswaldo's nickname is 'The Little Man'. This is also the nickname of one of the Inglourious Basterds. And it seems like the connection is pretty obvious.

It sounds like Oswaldo Mobray is actually the great, great grandfather of B.J. Novak's character. In the WWII epic, he plays PFC Smithson Utivich, an infamous Nazi-killer. While this pair share a nickname, Utivich is quite resentful of his. Some speculate its because he just could never escape the shadow of his great great grandpa. The Hateful Eight takes place in Wyoming. Despite Mobray's British heritage, it makes sense geographically that the pair are related.

We're not sure if or when Quentin Tarantino will clarify this connection, or if the answer lies within one of the two movies itself. We won't be able to make a judgement based on our own viewing for quite some time. While we await the arrival of The Hateful Eight on Christmas day, we can ponder some of the other character connections in Quentin Tarantino's movies. If you want to read up on this shared universe, click here.