diff --git a/src/robusta/core/discovery/discovery.py b/src/robusta/core/discovery/discovery.py
index d3277a864..ec11a25d2 100644
--- a/src/robusta/core/discovery/discovery.py
+++ b/src/robusta/core/discovery/discovery.py
@@ -897,12 +897,13 @@ def extract_containers_k8(resource) -> List[Container]:
 
 
 def is_pod_ready(pod) -> bool:
+    # Unset until kubelet reports on the pod.
     conditions = []
     if isinstance(pod, V1Pod):
-        conditions = pod.status.conditions
+        conditions = getattr(pod.status, "conditions", None) or []
 
     if isinstance(pod, Pod):
-        conditions = pod.status.conditions
+        conditions = getattr(pod.status, "conditions", None) or []
 
     for condition in conditions:
         if condition.type == "Ready":
diff --git a/tests/discovery/test_discovery.py b/tests/discovery/test_discovery.py
index b50317eb5..88796eb48 100644
--- a/tests/discovery/test_discovery.py
+++ b/tests/discovery/test_discovery.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import logging
 import signal
 from concurrent.futures import ProcessPoolExecutor
 from contextlib import contextmanager
@@ -7,9 +8,10 @@
 
 import kubernetes
 import pytest
+from kubernetes.client import V1ObjectMeta, V1Pod, V1PodCondition, V1PodStatus
 from kubernetes.client.exceptions import ApiException
 
-from robusta.core.discovery.discovery import Discovery
+from robusta.core.discovery.discovery import Discovery, extract_ready_pods, is_pod_ready
 
 
 # pytest-timeout requires pytest>=7, https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest-timeout/blob/main/setup.cfg
@@ -42,3 +44,34 @@ def test_discovery_recovery_on_failure():
 
             assert patched_pool._shutdown_thread
             assert not Discovery.executor._shutdown_thread 
+
+
+# ---- is_pod_ready with an unpopulated status ----
+
+
+def _pod(status: Any) -> V1Pod:
+    return V1Pod(metadata=V1ObjectMeta(name="p", namespace="kube-system"), status=status)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("status", [None, V1PodStatus(conditions=None), V1PodStatus(conditions=[])])
+def test_is_pod_ready_handles_unpopulated_status(status: Any):
+    """Regression: a pod kubelet has not reported on yet raised TypeError, which
+    extract_ready_pods logged as an ERROR with the whole pod dumped into it."""
+    assert is_pod_ready(_pod(status)) is False
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("condition_status,expected", [("True", True), ("False", False)])
+def test_is_pod_ready_reads_ready_condition(condition_status: str, expected: bool):
+    pod = _pod(V1PodStatus(conditions=[V1PodCondition(type="Ready", status=condition_status)]))
+    assert is_pod_ready(pod) is expected
+
+
+def test_is_pod_ready_ignores_other_conditions():
+    pod = _pod(V1PodStatus(conditions=[V1PodCondition(type="PodScheduled", status="True")]))
+    assert is_pod_ready(pod) is False
+
+
+def test_extract_ready_pods_does_not_log_for_unpopulated_status(caplog):
+    with caplog.at_level(logging.ERROR):
+        assert extract_ready_pods(_pod(None)) == 0
+    assert not caplog.records