diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/Configuration/PluginConfiguration.cs b/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/Configuration/PluginConfiguration.cs
index e9cd81a14e..99b759ae29 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/Configuration/PluginConfiguration.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/Configuration/PluginConfiguration.cs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Providers.Plugins.Tmdb
         /// Gets or sets a value to use as the API key for accessing TMDb. This is intentionally excluded from the
         /// settings page as the API key should not need to be changed by most users.
         /// </summary>
-        public string TmdbApiKey { get; set; } = TmdbUtils.ApiKey;
+        public string TmdbApiKey { get; set; } = string.Empty;
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether include adult content when searching with TMDb.
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/TmdbClientManager.cs b/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/TmdbClientManager.cs
index 1402104334..82f2c54f16 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/TmdbClientManager.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Providers/Plugins/Tmdb/TmdbClientManager.cs
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Providers.Plugins.Tmdb
         public TmdbClientManager(IMemoryCache memoryCache)
         {
             _memoryCache = memoryCache;
-            _tmDbClient = new TMDbClient(Plugin.Instance.Configuration.TmdbApiKey);
+
+            var apiKey = Plugin.Instance.Configuration.TmdbApiKey;
+            apiKey = string.IsNullOrEmpty(apiKey) ? TmdbUtils.ApiKey : apiKey;
+            _tmDbClient = new TMDbClient(apiKey);
+
             // Not really interested in NotFoundException
             _tmDbClient.ThrowApiExceptions = false;
         }