diff --git a/pkg/gui/context.go b/pkg/gui/context.go
index b198cb7e9..937106953 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/context.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/context.go
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ type Context interface {
 	SetWindowName(string)
 	GetKey() string
 	SetParentContext(Context)
-	GetParentContext() Context
+
+	// we return a bool here to tell us whether or not the returned value just wraps a nil
+	GetParentContext() (Context, bool)
 	GetOptionsMap() map[string]string
 }
 
@@ -80,8 +82,8 @@ func (c BasicContext) SetParentContext(Context) {
 	panic("can't set parent context on basic context")
 }
 
-func (c BasicContext) GetParentContext() Context {
-	panic("can't get parent context on basic context")
+func (c BasicContext) GetParentContext() (Context, bool) {
+	return nil, false
 }
 
 func (c BasicContext) HandleRender() error {
diff --git a/pkg/gui/list_context.go b/pkg/gui/list_context.go
index 5b64aa435..e437337d1 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/list_context.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/list_context.go
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ type ListContext struct {
 	ResetMainViewOriginOnFocus bool
 	Kind                       int
 	ParentContext              Context
-	WindowName                 string
+	// we can't know on the calling end whether a Context is actually a nil value without reflection, so we're storing this flag here to tell us. There has got to be a better way around this.
+	hasParent  bool
+	WindowName string
 }
 
 type ListItem interface {
@@ -55,10 +57,11 @@ func (lc *ListContext) GetWindowName() string {
 
 func (lc *ListContext) SetParentContext(c Context) {
 	lc.ParentContext = c
+	lc.hasParent = true
 }
 
-func (lc *ListContext) GetParentContext() Context {
-	return lc.ParentContext
+func (lc *ListContext) GetParentContext() (Context, bool) {
+	return lc.ParentContext, lc.hasParent
 }
 
 func (lc *ListContext) GetSelectedItemId() string {
diff --git a/pkg/gui/quitting.go b/pkg/gui/quitting.go
index fc24d2155..d53971ba3 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/quitting.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/quitting.go
@@ -36,9 +36,11 @@ func (gui *Gui) handleQuit() error {
 
 func (gui *Gui) handleTopLevelReturn(g *gocui.Gui, v *gocui.View) error {
 	currentContext := gui.currentContext()
-	if currentContext != nil && currentContext.GetParentContext() != nil {
+
+	parentContext, hasParent := currentContext.GetParentContext()
+	if hasParent && currentContext != nil && parentContext != nil {
 		// TODO: think about whether this should be marked as a return rather than adding to the stack
-		return gui.switchContext(currentContext.GetParentContext())
+		return gui.switchContext(parentContext)
 	}
 
 	for _, mode := range gui.modeStatuses() {