diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/generators.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/generators.scala
index 5214bff3543af..1079f0a333dd0 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/generators.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/generators.scala
@@ -444,7 +444,8 @@ case class Inline(child: Expression) extends UnaryExpression with CollectionGene
   }
 
   override def elementSchema: StructType = child.dataType match {
-    case ArrayType(st: StructType, _) => st
+    case ArrayType(st: StructType, false) => st
+    case ArrayType(st: StructType, true) => st.asNullable
   }
 
   override def collectionType: DataType = child.dataType
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/GeneratorFunctionSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/GeneratorFunctionSuite.scala
index 436ccb08294b3..ef87e10946b62 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/GeneratorFunctionSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/GeneratorFunctionSuite.scala
@@ -388,6 +388,31 @@ class GeneratorFunctionSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSparkSession {
         Row(0, 1) :: Row(3, 4) :: Row(6, 7) :: Row(null, null) :: Row(null, null) :: Nil)
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-39061: inline should handle null struct") {
+    val df = sql(
+      """select * from values
+        |(
+        |  1,
+        |  array(
+        |    named_struct('c1', 0, 'c2', 1),
+        |    null,
+        |    named_struct('c1', 2, 'c2', 3),
+        |    null
+        |  )
+        |)
+        |as tbl(a, b)
+         """.stripMargin)
+    df.createOrReplaceTempView("t1")
+
+    checkAnswer(
+      sql("select inline(b) from t1"),
+      Row(0, 1) :: Row(null, null) :: Row(2, 3) :: Row(null, null) :: Nil)
+
+    checkAnswer(
+      sql("select a, inline(b) from t1"),
+      Row(1, 0, 1) :: Row(1, null, null) :: Row(1, 2, 3) :: Row(1, null, null) :: Nil)
+  }
 }
 
 case class EmptyGenerator() extends Generator with LeafLike[Expression] {