diff --git a/hugolib/hugo_sites.go b/hugolib/hugo_sites.go
index 6c737f65af2..2682e524dfb 100644
--- a/hugolib/hugo_sites.go
+++ b/hugolib/hugo_sites.go
@@ -63,7 +63,9 @@ func newHugoSites(cfg deps.DepsCfg, sites ...*Site) (*HugoSites, error) {
 	// TODO(bep)
 	cfg.Cfg.Set("multilingual", sites[0].multilingualEnabled())
 
-	applyDepsIfNeeded(cfg, sites...)
+	if err := applyDepsIfNeeded(cfg, sites...); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 
 	h.Deps = sites[0].Deps