diff --git a/src/node_native_module.cc b/src/node_native_module.cc
index c3a77198090f86..a57355418bea06 100644
--- a/src/node_native_module.cc
+++ b/src/node_native_module.cc
@@ -292,14 +292,14 @@ MaybeLocal<Function> NativeModuleLoader::LookupAndCompile(
 
   // This could fail when there are early errors in the native modules,
   // e.g. the syntax errors
-  if (maybe_fun.IsEmpty()) {
+  Local<Function> fun;
+  if (!maybe_fun.ToLocal(&fun)) {
     // In the case of early errors, v8 is already capable of
     // decorating the stack for us - note that we use CompileFunctionInContext
     // so there is no need to worry about wrappers.
     return MaybeLocal<Function>();
   }
 
-  Local<Function> fun = maybe_fun.ToLocalChecked();
   // XXX(joyeecheung): this bookkeeping is not exactly accurate because
   // it only starts after the Environment is created, so the per_context.js
   // will never be in any of these two sets, but the two sets are only for