diff --git a/Objects/typeobject.c b/Objects/typeobject.c
index a7a9d7bf9fc..af9685d17d5 100644
--- a/Objects/typeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/typeobject.c
@@ -2295,6 +2295,9 @@ type_init(PyObject *cls, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
     /* Call object.__init__(self) now. */
     /* XXX Could call super(type, cls).__init__() but what's the point? */
     args = PyTuple_GetSlice(args, 0, 0);
+    if (args == NULL) {
+        return -1;
+    }
     res = object_init(cls, args, NULL);
     Py_DECREF(args);
     return res;