diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/run/run.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/run/run.go
index 303e6842e7..feccf23b27 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/run/run.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/run/run.go
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ func runRun(cmd *base.Command, args []string) {
 		p = load.GoFilesPackage(files)
 	} else if len(args) > 0 && !strings.HasPrefix(args[0], "-") {
 		pkgs := load.PackagesAndErrors(args[:1])
+		if len(pkgs) == 0 {
+			base.Fatalf("go run: no packages loaded from %s", args[0])
+		}
 		if len(pkgs) > 1 {
 			var names []string
 			for _, p := range pkgs {
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/run_wildcard.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/run_wildcard.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cd401e00e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/run_wildcard.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Fix for https://github.com/golang/go/issues/28696:
+# go run x/... should not panic when directory x doesn't exist.
+
+! go run nonexistent/...
+stderr '^go run: no packages loaded from nonexistent/...$'