diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistry.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistry.java
index ecec5991ade39..b698143f6ca4c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistry.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistry.java
@@ -814,6 +814,7 @@ public void onFailure(Exception e) {
                         templateName
                     );
                     RolloverRequest request = new RolloverRequest(rolloverTarget, null);
+                    request.lazy(true);
                     request.masterNodeTimeout(TimeValue.timeValueMinutes(1));
                     executeAsyncWithOrigin(
                         client.threadPool().getThreadContext(),
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistryTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistryTests.java
index 2b845affde63b..b0127c0005323 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistryTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/template/IndexTemplateRegistryTests.java
@@ -377,6 +377,7 @@ public void testAutomaticRollover() throws Exception {
                 rolloverCounter.incrementAndGet();
                 RolloverRequest rolloverRequest = ((RolloverRequest) request);
                 assertThat(rolloverRequest.getRolloverTarget(), startsWith("logs-my_app-"));
+                assertThat(rolloverRequest.isLazy(), equalTo(true));
             } else if (action == TransportPutComposableIndexTemplateAction.TYPE) {
                 putIndexTemplateCounter.incrementAndGet();
             }