diff --git a/src/plasma/private/theme_p.cpp b/src/plasma/private/theme_p.cpp
--- a/src/plasma/private/theme_p.cpp
+++ b/src/plasma/private/theme_p.cpp
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@
         while (!fallback.isEmpty() && !fallbackThemes.contains(fallback)) {
             fallbackThemes.append(fallback);
 
-            QString metadataPath(QStandardPaths::locate(QStandardPaths::GenericDataLocation, QLatin1Literal(PLASMA_RELATIVE_DATA_INSTALL_DIR "/desktoptheme/") % theme % QLatin1Literal("/metadata.desktop")));
+            QString metadataPath(QStandardPaths::locate(QStandardPaths::GenericDataLocation, QLatin1Literal(PLASMA_RELATIVE_DATA_INSTALL_DIR "/desktoptheme/") % fallback % QLatin1Literal("/metadata.desktop")));
             KConfig metadata(metadataPath, KConfig::SimpleConfig);
             KConfigGroup cg(&metadata, "Settings");
             fallback = cg.readEntry("FallbackTheme", QString());