diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go
index 112c259df..ca77b10de 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ func newAPIWatcher(client *http.Client, apiServer, authorization string, namespa
 
 // getLabelsForRole returns all the sets of labels for the given role.
 func (aw *apiWatcher) getLabelsForRole(role string) []map[string]string {
+	aw.startWatchersForRole(role)
 	var ms []map[string]string
 	aw.mu.Lock()
 	for _, uw := range aw.watchersByURL {