diff --git a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/public/metrics_type.ts b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/public/metrics_type.ts
index a89217409c1ff0..5d5e082b2b7bbb 100644
--- a/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/public/metrics_type.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/vis_type_timeseries/public/metrics_type.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import { i18n } from '@kbn/i18n';
 
 import { TSVB_EDITOR_NAME } from './application';
 import { PANEL_TYPES } from '../common/panel_types';
-import { fetchIndexPattern } from '../common/index_patterns_utils';
+import { isStringTypeIndexPattern } from '../common/index_patterns_utils';
 import { toExpressionAst } from './to_ast';
 import { VIS_EVENT_TO_TRIGGER, VisGroups, VisParams } from '../../visualizations/public';
 import { getDataStart } from './services';
@@ -79,8 +79,20 @@ export const metricsVisDefinition = {
   inspectorAdapters: {},
   getUsedIndexPattern: async (params: VisParams) => {
     const { indexPatterns } = getDataStart();
-    const { indexPattern } = await fetchIndexPattern(params.index_pattern, indexPatterns);
+    const indexPatternValue = params.index_pattern;
 
-    return indexPattern ? [indexPattern] : [];
+    if (indexPatternValue) {
+      if (isStringTypeIndexPattern(indexPatternValue)) {
+        return await indexPatterns.find(indexPatternValue);
+      }
+
+      if (indexPatternValue.id) {
+        return [await indexPatterns.get(indexPatternValue.id)];
+      }
+    }
+
+    const defaultIndex = await indexPatterns.getDefault();
+
+    return defaultIndex ? [defaultIndex] : [];
   },
 };