diff --git a/app/workers/thread_resolve_worker.rb b/app/workers/thread_resolve_worker.rb
index d4cefb3fdc0..270239f7aa7 100644
--- a/app/workers/thread_resolve_worker.rb
+++ b/app/workers/thread_resolve_worker.rb
@@ -10,10 +10,17 @@ class ThreadResolveWorker
     child_status = Status.find(child_status_id)
     return if child_status.in_reply_to_id.present?
 
-    parent_status = ActivityPub::TagManager.instance.uri_to_resource(parent_url, Status)
-    parent_status ||= FetchRemoteStatusService.new.call(parent_url, **options.deep_symbolize_keys)
+    skip_fetching = options.delete('skip_fetching')
 
-    return if parent_status.nil?
+    parent_status = ActivityPub::TagManager.instance.uri_to_resource(parent_url, Status)
+    parent_status ||= FetchRemoteStatusService.new.call(parent_url, **options.deep_symbolize_keys) unless skip_fetching
+
+    if parent_status.nil?
+      raise 'presumably private parent not found, retrying later' if skip_fetching
+
+      ThreadResolveWorker.perform_async(child_status_id, parent_url, { 'skip_fetching' => true })
+      return
+    end
 
     child_status.thread = parent_status
     child_status.save!