diff --git a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
index 7a5364b77b..c6de34b839 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ impl postgres_backend::Handler for PageServerHandler {
             tenant_mgr::get_timeline_for_tenant(tenantid, timelineid)
                 .context("Failed to fetch local timeline for callmemaybe requests")?;
 
-            walreceiver::launch_wal_receiver(self.conf, tenantid, timelineid, &connstr);
+            walreceiver::launch_wal_receiver(self.conf, tenantid, timelineid, &connstr)?;
 
             pgb.write_message_noflush(&BeMessage::CommandComplete(b"SELECT 1"))?;
         } else if query_string.starts_with("branch_create ") {
diff --git a/pageserver/src/walreceiver.rs b/pageserver/src/walreceiver.rs
index 9dd1d14fe0..43c50746bd 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/walreceiver.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/walreceiver.rs
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ pub fn launch_wal_receiver(
     tenantid: ZTenantId,
     timelineid: ZTimelineId,
     wal_producer_connstr: &str,
-) {
+) -> Result<()> {
     let mut receivers = WAL_RECEIVERS.lock();
 
     match receivers.get_mut(&(tenantid, timelineid)) {
@@ -122,8 +122,7 @@ pub fn launch_wal_receiver(
                 .spawn(move || {
                     IS_WAL_RECEIVER.with(|c| c.set(true));
                     thread_main(conf, tenantid, timelineid, rx);
-                })
-                .unwrap();
+                })?;
 
             let receiver = WalReceiverEntry {
                 wal_producer_connstr: wal_producer_connstr.into(),
@@ -134,10 +133,11 @@ pub fn launch_wal_receiver(
             receivers.insert((tenantid, timelineid), receiver);
 
             // Update tenant state and start tenant threads, if they are not running yet.
-            tenant_mgr::set_tenant_state(tenantid, TenantState::Active).unwrap();
+            tenant_mgr::set_tenant_state(tenantid, TenantState::Active)?;
             tenant_threads::start_tenant_threads(conf, tenantid);
         }
     };
+    Ok(())
 }
 
 // Look up current WAL producer connection string in the hash table