diff --git a/src/ray/raylet/node_manager.cc b/src/ray/raylet/node_manager.cc
index b98716979..d3060f697 100644
--- a/src/ray/raylet/node_manager.cc
+++ b/src/ray/raylet/node_manager.cc
@@ -644,10 +644,13 @@ void NodeManager::AssignTask(Task &task) {
     // If the task was an actor task, then record this execution to guarantee
     // consistency in the case of reconstruction.
     if (spec.IsActorTask()) {
-      // Extend the frontier to include the executing task.
       auto actor_entry = actor_registry_.find(spec.ActorId());
       RAY_CHECK(actor_entry != actor_registry_.end());
-      actor_entry->second.ExtendFrontier(spec.ActorHandleId(), spec.ActorDummyObject());
+      auto execution_dependency = actor_entry->second.GetExecutionDependency();
+      // The execution dependency is initialized to the actor creation task's
+      // return value, and is subsequently updated to the assigned tasks'
+      // return values, so it should never be nil.
+      RAY_CHECK(!execution_dependency.is_nil());
       // Update the task's execution dependencies to reflect the actual
       // execution order, to support deterministic reconstruction.
       // NOTE(swang): The update of an actor task's execution dependencies is
@@ -656,8 +659,9 @@ void NodeManager::AssignTask(Task &task) {
       // guarantee deterministic reconstruction ordering for tasks whose
       // updates are reflected in the task table.
       TaskExecutionSpecification &mutable_spec = task.GetTaskExecutionSpec();
-      mutable_spec.SetExecutionDependencies(
-          {actor_entry->second.GetExecutionDependency()});
+      mutable_spec.SetExecutionDependencies({execution_dependency});
+      // Extend the frontier to include the executing task.
+      actor_entry->second.ExtendFrontier(spec.ActorHandleId(), spec.ActorDummyObject());
     }
     // We started running the task, so the task is ready to write to GCS.
     lineage_cache_.AddReadyTask(task);
@@ -690,7 +694,7 @@ void NodeManager::FinishAssignedTask(Worker &worker) {
     auto actor_notification = std::make_shared<ActorTableDataT>();
     actor_notification->actor_id = actor_id.binary();
     actor_notification->actor_creation_dummy_object_id =
-        task.GetTaskSpecification().ActorCreationDummyObjectId().binary();
+        task.GetTaskSpecification().ActorDummyObject().binary();
     // TODO(swang): The driver ID.
     actor_notification->driver_id = JobID::nil().binary();
     actor_notification->node_manager_id =
diff --git a/src/ray/raylet/task_execution_spec.cc b/src/ray/raylet/task_execution_spec.cc
index 91473f557..c5b1486d5 100644
--- a/src/ray/raylet/task_execution_spec.cc
+++ b/src/ray/raylet/task_execution_spec.cc
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ std::vector<ObjectID> TaskExecutionSpecification::ExecutionDependencies() const
 
 void TaskExecutionSpecification::SetExecutionDependencies(
     const std::vector<ObjectID> &dependencies) {
+  execution_spec_.dependencies.clear();
   for (const auto &dependency : dependencies) {
     execution_spec_.dependencies.push_back(dependency.binary());
   }