diff --git a/kitty/screen.c b/kitty/screen.c
index 82e12f9f9..af649afe5 100644
--- a/kitty/screen.c
+++ b/kitty/screen.c
@@ -2148,7 +2148,7 @@ COUNT_WRAP(cursor_forward)
 
 static PyObject*
 wcwidth_wrap(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *chr) {
-    return PyLong_FromUnsignedLong(wcwidth_std(PyLong_AsLong(chr)));
+    return PyLong_FromLong(wcwidth_std(PyLong_AsLong(chr)));
 }