diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.test.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.test.ts
index fcb8eceb19..17a86eb30d 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.test.ts
@@ -757,6 +757,27 @@ describe('getKubernetesObjectsByEntity', () => {
       ],
     });
   });
+  it('fails when fetcher rejects with a non-FetchError', async () => {
+    const nonFetchError = new Error('not a fetch error');
+    getClustersByEntity.mockResolvedValue({
+      clusters: [
+        {
+          name: 'test-cluster',
+          authProvider: 'serviceAccount',
+          skipMetricsLookup: true,
+        },
+      ],
+    });
+    fetchObjectsForService.mockRejectedValue(nonFetchError);
+
+    const sut = getKubernetesFanOutHandler([]);
+
+    const result = sut.getKubernetesObjectsByEntity({
+      entity,
+      auth: {},
+    });
+    await expect(result).rejects.toThrow(nonFetchError);
+  });
   describe('with a real fetcher', () => {
     const worker = setupServer();
     setupRequestMockHandlers(worker);
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.ts
index bc8881f95b..a738c69bcc 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFanOutHandler.ts
@@ -274,15 +274,20 @@ export class KubernetesFanOutHandler {
             namespace,
           })
           .then(result => this.getMetricsForPods(clusterDetailsItem, result))
-          .catch((e): responseWithMetrics => {
-            return [
-              {
-                errors: [{ errorType: 'FETCH_ERROR', message: e.message }],
-                responses: [],
-              },
-              [],
-            ];
-          })
+          .catch(
+            (e): Promise<responseWithMetrics> =>
+              e.name === 'FetchError'
+                ? Promise.resolve([
+                    {
+                      errors: [
+                        { errorType: 'FETCH_ERROR', message: e.message },
+                      ],
+                      responses: [],
+                    },
+                    [],
+                  ])
+                : Promise.reject(e),
+          )
           .then(r => this.toClusterObjects(clusterDetailsItem, r));
       }),
     ).then(this.toObjectsByEntityResponse);