Wrexham suffered a cruel FA Cup plot twist as the non-league club run by movie stars conceded two stoppage-time goals in a 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United on Tuesday.
Owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney since 2020, Wrexham had become the headline act in this year's FA Cup.
They defeated second-tier Coventry in the third round and took Championship promotion chasers United down to the wire before finally bowing out in a fourth-round replay at Bramall Lane.
Anel Ahmedhodzic put United ahead but Wrexham equalised through Paul Mullin's penalty to spark dreams of another against-the-odds result straight from the pages of a blockbuster movie script.
Mullin then missed a penalty that would have given Wrexham the lead and Billy Sharp and Sander Berge played the villains with goals deep into stoppage time to earn United a fifth-round tie against Tottenham.
Despite the lack of a Hollywood ending, Reynolds, unable to attend the match, saluted his fifth-tier team in a tweet immediately after the final whistle.
"So proud of these boys. And the 4,000 plus away supporters who gave it all," he wrote.
Second in the National League, three points behind Notts County with two games in hand, Wrexham's main ambition this campaign is securing a return to fourth tier for the first time since 2008.
But the FA Cup has always been an enjoyable diversion for the north Wales club, who famously knocked out Arsenal and West Ham in previous years.
Only a stoppage-time United equaliser had denied Wrexham when they drew 3-3 in January and Phil Parkinson's side acquitted themselves well again.
"Obviously we are disappointed we haven't gone through but seeing how the Sheffield United players and staff celebrated at full time is a mark of how we pushed them," Parkinson said.
"There are so many positives for us to take into the second half of the season."