Yes, ‘Gilded Age’ stars Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon starred in a horror film set at Red Lobster

What looks like a Red Lobster commercial featuring stars from "The Gilded Age" has gone viral, but not everything is quite as it seems.

On May 20, X user Tim Popp (@popphits) posted a 30-second video on the platform that appears to be a '90s Red Lobster commercial starring actors Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon. The two also lead as George and Bertha Russell in "The Gilded Age."

“Excuse me but you need to see this Red Lobster commercial featuring Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector,” Popp wrote on X. “They had chemistry even then. Forget the Gilded Age. This was their Crustacean Age.”

In the video, pulled from a trailer posted to the Toronto International Film Festival’s YouTube page, Spector plays a charming waiter against Coon’s bespectacled customer with a frenetic enthusiasm.

“What can I get you?” Spector asks in the clip.

“30 shrimp, please,” Coon answers.

“Great choice!” Spector replies.

While there’s something else at play with the clip, it fooled a lot of folks, with many surprised at the strange coincidence: Did two actors who star in a television show where they both play exceedingly wealthy and married robber barons really have such a humble beginning to their on-screen relationship?

“I’m flipping out!!! This is surreal!!!!” wrote one fan.

“Girl excuse me WHAT, is this AI?” wrote another shocked X user. Another joked, “Gilded Lobster 🦞.”

“Bertha needs to serve cheddar bay biscuits at their next glittering soirée,” remarked one “Gilded Age” fan.

However, one of the video’s stars stepped in to clear things up, at least a little.

“It’s an avant garde short film called 'Great Choice' by director Robin Comisar,” Coon wrote on X, much to several folks’ excitement.

Yes, that’s right: The clip is actually the first scene of a 2017 horror-dramedy called “Great Choice,” starring Spector and Coon, a full five years before they would star on “The Gilded Age,” set to continue after a renewal for a third season.

The full film isn’t officially available online, but folks who have seen it — including me — have described the film as “astonishing,” “incredible,” “scary” and “deeply disturbing.” No spoilers, but I would add that the full film is also mind-bending, and deeply moving, too.

Representatives for Coon and Spector did not immediately respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment. Representatives for Red Lobster also did not immediately respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment.

Still, Coon replied to several confused folks on X clearing up why she was ordering several shrimp in a sensible cardigan from her future on-screen beau. Spector also posted about the film, writing “Yeah! Watch it!” in his Instagram stories on May 22.

The writer and director of the short film, Comisar, has fond memories of meticulously re-creating a real 1994 Red Lobster commercial for his film. The location truly set the scene for what becomes a very wild ride.

“The idea for ‘Great Choice’ came from the original commercial itself,” Comisar tells TODAY.com, adding that he loved the ad. “I sent it to a buddy of mine around 2015–16 because I was having my birthday at a seafood restaurant, and my friend said, ‘Oh, wow, I would watch a whole movie of that commercial.’ and I was like, ‘That is a fantastic idea. So the genesis of it came from that.’”

Comisar says he has nothing but praise to send the stars’ way.

“I have nothing but glowing things to say about (Carrie). She’s just good people, good energy,” Comisar says. “And Morgan, just the same.”

And for the online chatter surrounding the film, Comisar says he largely avoids social media, but he appreciates the resurgence of interest in the film.

“It makes me happy that I chose to become a filmmaker, you know?” Comisar says. “That might be a good way of putting it, that the struggle is worth the result.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com