diff --git a/Objects/typeobject.c b/Objects/typeobject.c
index e58578d310b75c..0db171807aca4b 100644
--- a/Objects/typeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/typeobject.c
@@ -8908,6 +8908,7 @@ type_ready_post_checks(PyTypeObject *type)
             PyErr_Format(PyExc_SystemError,
                          "type %s has a tp_dictoffset that is too small",
                          type->tp_name);
+            return -1;
         }
     }
     return 0;