diff --git a/hw/display/qxl.c b/hw/display/qxl.c
index 99365c3e8f59b9abe75fcb057add92b013ca2c05..b9fa067f6e21500cbb3060b5c628af73b0e27760 100644
--- a/hw/display/qxl.c
+++ b/hw/display/qxl.c
@@ -518,7 +518,6 @@ static void interface_attach_worker(QXLInstance *sin, QXLWorker *qxl_worker)
     PCIQXLDevice *qxl = container_of(sin, PCIQXLDevice, ssd.qxl);
 
     trace_qxl_interface_attach_worker(qxl->id);
-    qxl->ssd.worker = qxl_worker;
 }
 
 static void interface_set_compression_level(QXLInstance *sin, int level)
diff --git a/include/ui/spice-display.h b/include/ui/spice-display.h
index aaf2019889a91a3990c29fd711a09be9500adeea..6b5c73b21ca10e7673db993be83febc70b864ed0 100644
--- a/include/ui/spice-display.h
+++ b/include/ui/spice-display.h
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ struct SimpleSpiceDisplay {
     DisplayChangeListener dcl;
     void *buf;
     int bufsize;
-    QXLWorker *worker;
     QXLInstance qxl;
     uint32_t unique;
     pixman_image_t *surface;
diff --git a/ui/spice-display.c b/ui/spice-display.c
index ad1ceafb3f0a45be0bab95bd3ae018d2ee1ecd50..85a72fe76af48c59c2807a3c7213e3f033c62ba9 100644
--- a/ui/spice-display.c
+++ b/ui/spice-display.c
@@ -519,7 +519,6 @@ static void interface_attach_worker(QXLInstance *sin, QXLWorker *qxl_worker)
     SimpleSpiceDisplay *ssd = container_of(sin, SimpleSpiceDisplay, qxl);
 
     dprint(1, "%s/%d:\n", __func__, ssd->qxl.id);
-    ssd->worker = qxl_worker;
 }
 
 static void interface_set_compression_level(QXLInstance *sin, int level)
@@ -1028,7 +1027,6 @@ static void qemu_spice_display_init_one(QemuConsole *con)
 
     ssd->qxl.base.sif = &dpy_interface.base;
     qemu_spice_add_display_interface(&ssd->qxl, con);
-    assert(ssd->worker);
     qemu_spice_create_host_memslot(ssd);
 
     register_displaychangelistener(&ssd->dcl);