diff --git a/Modules/_xxsubinterpretersmodule.c b/Modules/_xxsubinterpretersmodule.c
index 9648f080cd7..11164676c4d 100644
--- a/Modules/_xxsubinterpretersmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_xxsubinterpretersmodule.c
@@ -481,7 +481,7 @@ _run_script_in_interpreter(PyObject *mod, PyInterpreterState *interp,
     }
 
     // Run the script.
-    _sharedexception exc;
+    _sharedexception exc = {NULL, NULL};
     int result = _run_script(interp, codestr, shared, &exc);
 
     // Switch back.