diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/variantExpressions.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/variantExpressions.scala
index 43c561e10b6d2..8c0f72facc8c8 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/variantExpressions.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/variantExpressions.scala
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ case class ParseJson(child: Expression, failOnError: Boolean = true)
     "parseJson",
     Seq(child, Literal(failOnError, BooleanType)),
     inputTypes :+ BooleanType,
-    returnNullable = false)
+    returnNullable = !failOnError)
 
   override def inputTypes: Seq[AbstractDataType] = StringType :: Nil
 
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/VariantExpressionSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/VariantExpressionSuite.scala
index d001f0ec051eb..23293042f568b 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/VariantExpressionSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/variant/VariantExpressionSuite.scala
@@ -807,6 +807,13 @@ class VariantExpressionSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
       "Hello")
   }
 
+  test("tryParseJson negative") {
+    checkEvaluation(
+      ParseJson(Literal("["), failOnError = false).replacement,
+      null
+    )
+  }
+
   test("cast to variant") {
     def check[T : TypeTag](input: T, expectedJson: String): Unit = {
       val cast = Cast(Literal.create(input), VariantType, evalMode = EvalMode.ANSI)