diff --git a/.changelog/16011.txt b/.changelog/16011.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9e0e4f23ca6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/16011.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+cli: Fixed a panic in `deployment status` when rollback deployments are slow to appear
+```
diff --git a/command/deployment_status.go b/command/deployment_status.go
index bd526821409f..260f54bf0074 100644
--- a/command/deployment_status.go
+++ b/command/deployment_status.go
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ UPDATE:
 				// TODO We may want to find a more robust way of waiting for rollbacks to launch instead of
 				// just sleeping for 1 sec. If scheduling is slow, this will break update here instead of
 				// waiting for the (eventual) rollback
-				if rollback.ID == deploy.ID {
+				if rollback == nil || rollback.ID == deploy.ID {
 					break UPDATE
 				}
 
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ func (c *DeploymentStatusCommand) defaultMonitor(client *api.Client, deployID st
 				// TODO We may want to find a more robust way of waiting for rollbacks to launch instead of
 				// just sleeping for 1 sec. If scheduling is slow, this will break update here instead of
 				// waiting for the (eventual) rollback
-				if rollback.ID == deploy.ID {
+				if rollback == nil || rollback.ID == deploy.ID {
 					return
 				}
 				c.defaultMonitor(client, rollback.ID, index, wait, verbose)