diff --git a/kitty/gl.h b/kitty/gl.h
index e96a65fcc..5ddb24e14 100644
--- a/kitty/gl.h
+++ b/kitty/gl.h
@@ -67,17 +67,17 @@ check_for_gl_error(int line) {
 #endif
 
 static PyObject* 
-glew_init(PyObject UNUSED *self) {
+glew_init(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *is_wayland) {
 #ifndef __APPLE__
     GLenum err = glewInit();
     if (err != GLEW_OK) {
-        PyErr_Format(PyExc_RuntimeError, "GLEW init failed: [%d] %s", err, glewGetErrorString(err));
-        return NULL;
+        if (PyObject_IsTrue(is_wayland)) {
+            fatal("GLEW init failed: [%d] %s. On Wayland, GLEW must be compiled with the EGL backend instead of the GLX backend.", err, glewGetErrorString(err));
+        } else fatal("GLEW init failed: [%d] %s", err, glewGetErrorString(err));
     }
 #define ARB_TEST(name) \
     if (!GLEW_ARB_##name) { \
-        PyErr_Format(PyExc_RuntimeError, "The OpenGL driver on this system is missing the required extension: ARB_%s", #name); \
-        return NULL; \
+        fatal("The OpenGL driver on this system is missing the required extension: ARB_%s", #name); \
     }
     ARB_TEST(texture_storage);
 #undef ARB_TEST
diff --git a/kitty/main.py b/kitty/main.py
index b31d3f4a5..5338403b4 100644
--- a/kitty/main.py
+++ b/kitty/main.py
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ def initialize_window(window, opts):
     w, h = window.get_window_size()
     viewport_size.x_ratio = viewport_size.width / float(w)
     viewport_size.y_ratio = viewport_size.height / float(h)
-    glewInit()
+    glewInit(iswayland)
     glfw_swap_interval(0)
     clear_buffers(window.swap_buffers, color_as_int(opts.background))
     # We dont turn this on as it causes rendering performance to be much worse,
diff --git a/kitty/shaders.c b/kitty/shaders.c
index 90fcda60c..39fa4c9d7 100644
--- a/kitty/shaders.c
+++ b/kitty/shaders.c
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ PYWRAP0(check_for_extensions) {
 #define M(name, arg_type) {#name, (PyCFunction)name, arg_type, NULL}
 #define MW(name, arg_type) {#name, (PyCFunction)py##name, arg_type, NULL}
 static PyMethodDef module_methods[] = {
-    {"glewInit", (PyCFunction)glew_init, METH_NOARGS, NULL}, 
+    {"glewInit", (PyCFunction)glew_init, METH_O, NULL}, 
     M(compile_program, METH_VARARGS),
     MW(check_for_extensions, METH_NOARGS),
     MW(create_vao, METH_NOARGS),