diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/ContinuousExecution.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/ContinuousExecution.scala
index 5d68b752fa463..667410ef9f1c6 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/ContinuousExecution.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/ContinuousExecution.scala
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ class ContinuousExecution(
           sparkSessionForQuery, lastExecution)(lastExecution.toRdd)
       }
     } finally {
-      epochEndpoint.askSync(StopEpochCoordinator)
+      epochEndpoint.askSync[Unit](StopContinuousExecutionWrites)
       SparkEnv.get.rpcEnv.stop(epochEndpoint)
 
       epochUpdateThread.interrupt()
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/EpochCoordinator.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/EpochCoordinator.scala
index 0a231eb44c761..40dcbecade814 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/EpochCoordinator.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/continuous/EpochCoordinator.scala
@@ -40,11 +40,13 @@ private[continuous] sealed trait EpochCoordinatorMessage extends Serializable
 private[sql] case object IncrementAndGetEpoch extends EpochCoordinatorMessage
 
 /**
- * Synchronously stop the epoch coordinator. The RpcEndpoint stop() will clear out the message queue
- * before terminating the endpoint, but we must be sure no more messages will be processed before we
- * can restart the query. The framework unfortunately provides no handle to wait for the queue.
+ * The RpcEndpoint stop() will wait to clear out the message queue before terminating the
+ * object. This can lead to a race condition where the query restarts at epoch n, a new
+ * EpochCoordinator starts at epoch n, and then the old epoch coordinator commits epoch n + 1.
+ * The framework doesn't provide a handle to wait on the message queue, so we use a synchronous
+ * message to stop any writes to the ContinuousExecution object.
  */
-private[sql] case object StopEpochCoordinator extends EpochCoordinatorMessage
+private[sql] case object StopContinuousExecutionWrites extends EpochCoordinatorMessage
 
 // Init messages
 /**
@@ -123,7 +125,7 @@ private[continuous] class EpochCoordinator(
     override val rpcEnv: RpcEnv)
   extends ThreadSafeRpcEndpoint with Logging {
 
-  private var stopped: Boolean = false
+  private var queryWritesStopped: Boolean = false
 
   private var numReaderPartitions: Int = _
   private var numWriterPartitions: Int = _
@@ -162,7 +164,10 @@ private[continuous] class EpochCoordinator(
   }
 
   override def receive: PartialFunction[Any, Unit] = {
-    case _ if stopped => throw new IllegalStateException(s"Coordinator $this stopped")
+    // If we just drop these messages, we won't do any writes to the query. The lame duck tasks
+    // won't shed errors or anything.
+    case _ if queryWritesStopped => ()
+
     case CommitPartitionEpoch(partitionId, epoch, message) =>
       logDebug(s"Got commit from partition $partitionId at epoch $epoch: $message")
       if (!partitionCommits.isDefinedAt((epoch, partitionId))) {
@@ -182,7 +187,6 @@ private[continuous] class EpochCoordinator(
   }
 
   override def receiveAndReply(context: RpcCallContext): PartialFunction[Any, Unit] = {
-    case _ if stopped => throw new IllegalStateException(s"Coordinator $this stopped")
     case GetCurrentEpoch =>
       val result = currentDriverEpoch
       logDebug(s"Epoch $result")
@@ -200,8 +204,8 @@ private[continuous] class EpochCoordinator(
       numWriterPartitions = numPartitions
       context.reply(())
 
-    case StopEpochCoordinator =>
-      stopped = true
+    case StopContinuousExecutionWrites =>
+      queryWritesStopped = true
       context.reply(())
   }
 }