diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el b/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el
index 3aecaa75..b304c58a 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el
@@ -541,7 +541,11 @@ Or go to the top level if there is none."
       mu4e~headers-last-query)))
 
 (defun mu4e-get-view-buffer ()
-  (get-buffer mu4e~view-buffer-name))
+  "Get the view buffer, if any."
+  (get-buffer
+   (if mu4e-view-use-old
+       mu4e~view-buffer-name
+     gnus-article-buffer)))
 
 (defun mu4e-get-headers-buffer ()
   (get-buffer mu4e~headers-buffer-name))
diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-view-gnus.el b/mu4e/mu4e-view-gnus.el
index 8afaee13..683260b5 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-view-gnus.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-view-gnus.el
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 
 (defun mu4e~view-gnus (msg)
   "View MSG using Gnus' article mode."
-  (when gnus-article-buffer
+  (when (bufferp gnus-article-buffer)
     (kill-buffer gnus-article-buffer))
   (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create gnus-article-buffer)
     (let ((inhibit-read-only t))