diff --git a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/where_.rs b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/where_.rs
index ebf1ff5bb9..1f1ccc764b 100644
--- a/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/where_.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-command/tests/commands/where_.rs
@@ -189,10 +189,3 @@ fn where_gt_null() {
     let actual = nu!("[{foo: 123} {}] | where foo? > 10 | to nuon");
     assert_eq!(actual.out, "[[foo]; [123]]");
 }
-
-#[test]
-fn pass_through_empty_pipelines() {
-    let actual = nu!(cwd: ".", pipeline(r#"null | where name == "foo" | to json"#));
-
-    assert_eq!(actual.out, "[]");
-}
diff --git a/crates/nu-protocol/src/pipeline_data.rs b/crates/nu-protocol/src/pipeline_data.rs
index 7257cfe224..3e47d2efca 100644
--- a/crates/nu-protocol/src/pipeline_data.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-protocol/src/pipeline_data.rs
@@ -302,7 +302,6 @@ impl PipelineData {
                 },
                 // Propagate errors by explicitly matching them before the final case.
                 Value::Error { error } => Err(*error),
-                Value::Nothing { .. } => Ok(PipelineIterator(PipelineData::empty())),
                 other => Err(ShellError::OnlySupportsThisInputType {
                     exp_input_type: "list, binary, raw data or range".into(),
                     wrong_type: other.get_type().to_string(),
@@ -310,7 +309,12 @@ impl PipelineData {
                     src_span: other.expect_span(),
                 }),
             },
-            PipelineData::Empty => Ok(PipelineIterator(PipelineData::empty())),
+            PipelineData::Empty => Err(ShellError::OnlySupportsThisInputType {
+                exp_input_type: "list, binary, raw data or range".into(),
+                wrong_type: "null".into(),
+                dst_span: span,
+                src_span: span,
+            }),
             other => Ok(PipelineIterator(other)),
         }
     }