diff --git a/kittens/ssh/main.py b/kittens/ssh/main.py
index bd5741baf..1daa82a3d 100644
--- a/kittens/ssh/main.py
+++ b/kittens/ssh/main.py
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ def get_posix_cmd(remote_args: List[str]) -> List[str]:
         # line 1129 of ssh.c and on the remote side sshd.c runs the
         # concatenated command as shell -c cmd
         args = [c.replace("'", """'"'"'""") for c in remote_args]
-        command_to_execute = "exec $login_shell -c '{}'".format(' '.join(args))
+        command_to_execute = "exec \"$login_shell\" -c '{}'".format(' '.join(args))
     sh_script = load_script(exec_cmd=command_to_execute)
     return [f'sh -c {shlex.quote(sh_script)}']
 
diff --git a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
index c78e09576..730c5024a 100644
--- a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
@@ -213,6 +213,14 @@ execute_with_python() {
     return 1;
 }
 
+LOGIN_SHELL="OVERRIDE_LOGIN_SHELL"
+if [ -n "$LOGIN_SHELL" ]; then
+    login_shell="$LOGIN_SHELL"
+else
+    using_getent || using_id || using_python || using_passwd || die "Could not detect login shell";
+fi
+shell_name=$(basename $login_shell)
+
 # If a command was passed to SSH execute it here
 EXEC_CMD
 
@@ -224,13 +232,6 @@ if [ "$tty_ok" = "n" ]; then
     fi
 fi
 
-LOGIN_SHELL="OVERRIDE_LOGIN_SHELL"
-if [ -n "$LOGIN_SHELL" ]; then
-    login_shell="$LOGIN_SHELL"
-else
-    using_getent || using_id || using_python || using_passwd || die "Could not detect login shell";
-fi
-shell_name=$(basename $login_shell)
 
 exec_bash_with_integration() {
     export ENV="$shell_integration_dir/bash/kitty.bash"