diff --git a/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/ActorSystemSpec.scala b/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/ActorSystemSpec.scala
index 6faa54a610..2b3a461e41 100644
--- a/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/ActorSystemSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/ActorSystemSpec.scala
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 package akka.actor.typed
 package internal
 
+import akka.Done
 import akka.actor.InvalidMessageException
 import akka.actor.typed.scaladsl.Behaviors
 import akka.testkit.typed.TestInbox
@@ -54,7 +55,12 @@ class ActorSystemSpec extends WordSpec with Matchers with BeforeAndAfterAll
 
     // see issue #24172
     "shutdown if guardian shuts down immediately" in {
-      withSystem("shutdown", Behaviors.stopped[String], doTerminate = false) { sys: ActorSystem[String] ⇒
+      val stoppable =
+        Behaviors.immutable[Done] {
+          case (ctx, Done) ⇒ Behaviors.stopped
+        }
+      withSystem("shutdown", stoppable, doTerminate = false) { sys: ActorSystem[Done] ⇒
+        sys ! Done
         sys.whenTerminated.futureValue
       }
     }
diff --git a/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/scaladsl/adapter/AdapterSpec.scala b/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/scaladsl/adapter/AdapterSpec.scala
index f58645d027..6687914121 100644
--- a/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/scaladsl/adapter/AdapterSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-typed-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/typed/scaladsl/adapter/AdapterSpec.scala
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ class AdapterSpec extends AkkaSpec {
       for { _ ← 0 to 10 } {
         var system: akka.actor.typed.ActorSystem[NotUsed] = null
         try {
-          system = ActorSystem.create(Behavior.stopped[NotUsed], "AdapterSpec-stopping-guardian")
+          system = ActorSystem.create(Behaviors.deferred[NotUsed](_ ⇒ Behavior.stopped[NotUsed]), "AdapterSpec-stopping-guardian")
         } finally if (system != null) shutdown(system.toUntyped)
       }
     }
diff --git a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/ActorSystem.scala
index a7b20caf71..8053376040 100644
--- a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 package akka.actor.typed
 
 import scala.concurrent.ExecutionContext
-import akka.{ actor ⇒ a, event ⇒ e }
+import akka.{ actor ⇒ a }
 import java.util.concurrent.{ CompletionStage, ThreadFactory }
 
 import akka.actor.setup.ActorSystemSetup
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import akka.annotation.ApiMayChange
 import java.util.Optional
 
 import akka.actor.BootstrapSetup
+import akka.actor.typed.internal.adapter.GuardianActorAdapter
 import akka.actor.typed.receptionist.Receptionist
 
 /**
@@ -211,15 +212,16 @@ object ActorSystem {
                                 executionContext: Option[ExecutionContext] = None): ActorSystem[T] = {
 
     Behavior.validateAsInitial(guardianBehavior)
+    require(Behavior.isAlive(guardianBehavior))
     val cl = classLoader.getOrElse(akka.actor.ActorSystem.findClassLoader())
     val appConfig = config.getOrElse(ConfigFactory.load(cl))
     val setup = ActorSystemSetup(BootstrapSetup(classLoader, config, executionContext))
     val untyped = new a.ActorSystemImpl(name, appConfig, cl, executionContext,
-      Some(PropsAdapter(() ⇒ guardianBehavior, guardianProps)), setup)
+      Some(PropsAdapter(() ⇒ guardianBehavior, guardianProps, isGuardian = true)), setup)
     untyped.start()
 
-    val adapter: ActorSystemAdapter.AdapterExtension = ActorSystemAdapter.AdapterExtension(untyped)
-    adapter.adapter
+    untyped.guardian ! GuardianActorAdapter.Start
+    ActorSystemAdapter.AdapterExtension(untyped).adapter
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/ActorAdapter.scala b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/ActorAdapter.scala
index 555eb2362a..899cd4f0a5 100644
--- a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/ActorAdapter.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/ActorAdapter.scala
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ package internal
 package adapter
 
 import scala.annotation.tailrec
-
 import akka.{ actor ⇒ a }
 import akka.annotation.InternalApi
 import akka.util.OptionVal
@@ -20,13 +19,16 @@ import akka.util.OptionVal
 
   var behavior: Behavior[T] = _initialBehavior
 
-  if (!isAlive(behavior)) context.stop(self)
-
-  val ctx = new ActorContextAdapter[T](context)
+  var _ctx: ActorContextAdapter[T] = _
+  def ctx: ActorContextAdapter[T] =
+    if (_ctx ne null) _ctx
+    else throw new IllegalStateException("Context was accessed before typed actor was started.")
 
   var failures: Map[a.ActorRef, Throwable] = Map.empty
 
-  def receive = {
+  def receive = running
+
+  def running: Receive = {
     case a.Terminated(ref) ⇒
       val msg =
         if (failures contains ref) {
@@ -109,7 +111,15 @@ import akka.util.OptionVal
       a.SupervisorStrategy.Stop
   }
 
-  override def preStart(): Unit = {
+  override def preStart(): Unit =
+    if (!isAlive(behavior))
+      context.stop(self)
+    else
+      start()
+
+  protected def start(): Unit = {
+    context.become(running)
+    initializeContext()
     behavior = validateAsInitial(undefer(behavior, ctx))
     if (!isAlive(behavior)) context.stop(self)
   }
@@ -120,6 +130,7 @@ import akka.util.OptionVal
   }
 
   override def postRestart(reason: Throwable): Unit = {
+    initializeContext()
     behavior = validateAsInitial(undefer(behavior, ctx))
     if (!isAlive(behavior)) context.stop(self)
   }
@@ -135,6 +146,57 @@ import akka.util.OptionVal
       }
       case b ⇒ Behavior.interpretSignal(b, ctx, PostStop)
     }
+
     behavior = Behavior.stopped
   }
+
+  protected def initializeContext(): Unit = {
+    _ctx = new ActorContextAdapter[T](context)
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ *
+ * A special adapter for the guardian which will defer processing until a special `Start` signal has been received.
+ * That will allow to defer typed processing until the untyped ActorSystem has completely started up.
+ */
+@InternalApi
+private[typed] class GuardianActorAdapter[T](_initialBehavior: Behavior[T]) extends ActorAdapter[T](_initialBehavior) {
+  import Behavior._
+
+  override def preStart(): Unit =
+    if (!isAlive(behavior))
+      context.stop(self)
+    else
+      context.become(waitingForStart(Nil))
+
+  def waitingForStart(stashed: List[Any]): Receive = {
+    case GuardianActorAdapter.Start ⇒
+      start()
+
+      stashed.reverse.foreach(receive)
+    case other ⇒
+      // unlikely to happen but not impossible
+      context.become(waitingForStart(other :: stashed))
+  }
+
+  override def postRestart(reason: Throwable): Unit = {
+    initializeContext()
+
+    super.postRestart(reason)
+  }
+
+  override def postStop(): Unit = {
+    initializeContext()
+
+    super.postStop()
+  }
+}
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ */
+@InternalApi private[typed] object GuardianActorAdapter {
+  case object Start
+
 }
diff --git a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/PropsAdapter.scala b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/PropsAdapter.scala
index 5ec32a4493..8ecdd19ffa 100644
--- a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/PropsAdapter.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/scala/akka/actor/typed/internal/adapter/PropsAdapter.scala
@@ -12,10 +12,12 @@ import akka.annotation.InternalApi
  * INTERNAL API
  */
 @InternalApi private[akka] object PropsAdapter {
-
-  def apply[T](behavior: () ⇒ Behavior[T], deploy: Props = Props.empty): akka.actor.Props = {
-
-    val props = akka.actor.Props(new ActorAdapter(behavior()))
+  def apply[T](behavior: () ⇒ Behavior[T], deploy: Props = Props.empty, isGuardian: Boolean = false): akka.actor.Props = {
+    val props =
+      if (isGuardian)
+        akka.actor.Props(new GuardianActorAdapter(behavior()))
+      else
+        akka.actor.Props(new ActorAdapter(behavior()))
 
     (deploy.firstOrElse[DispatcherSelector](DispatcherDefault()) match {
       case _: DispatcherDefault          ⇒ props