diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java
index 2aeb36d75de62..a1da5acc38a96 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/fetch/FetchPhase.java
@@ -321,6 +321,7 @@ private static HitContext prepareNestedHitContext(
                     rootSource = Source.fromBytes(leafRootLoader.source());
                 }
             }
+            throw new FetchPhaseExecutionException(context.shardTarget(), "Aha so this does happen then");
         }
 
         childFieldLoader.advanceTo(nestedInfo.doc());