diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_initconfig.h b/Include/internal/pycore_initconfig.h
index 6439101ff390ae4..d6ed2fbc52a702e 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_initconfig.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_initconfig.h
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ struct pyruntimestate;
 #endif
 
 #define _PyStatus_OK() \
-    (PyStatus){._type = _PyStatus_TYPE_OK,}
+    (PyStatus){._type = _PyStatus_TYPE_OK}
     /* other fields are set to 0 */
 #define _PyStatus_ERR(ERR_MSG) \
     (PyStatus){ \
diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_object.h b/Include/internal/pycore_object.h
index d842816e6735534..daa06ebfbf91a48 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_object.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_object.h
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ _PyType_HasFeature(PyTypeObject *type, unsigned long feature) {
 
 extern void _PyType_InitCache(PyInterpreterState *interp);
 
-extern void _PyObject_InitState(PyInterpreterState *interp);
+extern PyStatus _PyObject_InitState(PyInterpreterState *interp);
 extern void _PyObject_FiniState(PyInterpreterState *interp);
 extern bool _PyRefchain_IsTraced(PyInterpreterState *interp, PyObject *obj);
 
diff --git a/Objects/object.c b/Objects/object.c
index a4d7111a686bda2..7aeda50e9b27574 100644
--- a/Objects/object.c
+++ b/Objects/object.c
@@ -2034,7 +2034,7 @@ PyObject _Py_NotImplementedStruct = {
 };
 
 
-void
+PyStatus
 _PyObject_InitState(PyInterpreterState *interp)
 {
 #ifdef Py_TRACE_REFS
@@ -2048,9 +2048,10 @@ _PyObject_InitState(PyInterpreterState *interp)
         _Py_hashtable_hash_ptr, _Py_hashtable_compare_direct,
         NULL, NULL, &alloc);
     if (REFCHAIN(interp) == NULL) {
-        Py_FatalError("_PyObject_InitState() memory allocation failure");
+        return _PyStatus_NO_MEMORY();
     }
 #endif
+    return _PyStatus_OK();
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/Python/pystate.c b/Python/pystate.c
index 4a8808f700eaa22..034482579f05803 100644
--- a/Python/pystate.c
+++ b/Python/pystate.c
@@ -426,13 +426,11 @@ init_runtime(_PyRuntimeState *runtime,
              Py_ssize_t unicode_next_index,
              PyThread_type_lock locks[NUMLOCKS])
 {
-    if (runtime->_initialized) {
-        Py_FatalError("runtime already initialized");
-    }
-    assert(!runtime->preinitializing &&
-           !runtime->preinitialized &&
-           !runtime->core_initialized &&
-           !runtime->initialized);
+    assert(!runtime->preinitializing);
+    assert(!runtime->preinitialized);
+    assert(!runtime->core_initialized);
+    assert(!runtime->initialized);
+    assert(!runtime->_initialized);
 
     runtime->open_code_hook = open_code_hook;
     runtime->open_code_userdata = open_code_userdata;
@@ -476,6 +474,7 @@ _PyRuntimeState_Init(_PyRuntimeState *runtime)
         // Py_Initialize() must be running again.
         // Reset to _PyRuntimeState_INIT.
         memcpy(runtime, &initial, sizeof(*runtime));
+        assert(!runtime->_initialized);
     }
 
     if (gilstate_tss_init(runtime) != 0) {
@@ -647,14 +646,14 @@ free_interpreter(PyInterpreterState *interp)
    main interpreter.  We fix those fields here, in addition
    to the other dynamically initialized fields.
   */
-static void
+static PyStatus
 init_interpreter(PyInterpreterState *interp,
                  _PyRuntimeState *runtime, int64_t id,
                  PyInterpreterState *next,
                  PyThread_type_lock pending_lock)
 {
     if (interp->_initialized) {
-        Py_FatalError("interpreter already initialized");
+        return _PyStatus_ERR("interpreter already initialized");
     }
 
     assert(runtime != NULL);
@@ -675,7 +674,10 @@ init_interpreter(PyInterpreterState *interp,
         memcpy(&interp->obmalloc.pools.used, temp, sizeof(temp));
     }
 
-    _PyObject_InitState(interp);
+    PyStatus status = _PyObject_InitState(interp);
+    if (_PyStatus_EXCEPTION(status)) {
+        return status;
+    }
 
     _PyEval_InitState(interp, pending_lock);
     _PyGC_InitState(&interp->gc);
@@ -701,6 +703,7 @@ init_interpreter(PyInterpreterState *interp,
     }
     interp->f_opcode_trace_set = false;
     interp->_initialized = 1;
+    return _PyStatus_OK();
 }
 
 PyInterpreterState *
@@ -772,7 +775,15 @@ PyInterpreterState_New(void)
     }
     interpreters->head = interp;
 
-    init_interpreter(interp, runtime, id, old_head, pending_lock);
+    PyStatus status = init_interpreter(interp, runtime,
+                                       id, old_head, pending_lock);
+    if (_PyStatus_EXCEPTION(status)) {
+        const char *err_msg = status.err_msg;
+        if (!err_msg) {
+            err_msg = "failed to initialize the interpreter";
+        }
+        Py_FatalError(err_msg);
+    }
 
     HEAD_UNLOCK(runtime);
     return interp;