diff --git a/mypy/typeanal.py b/mypy/typeanal.py
index daf7ab1951ea..b7e7da17e209 100644
--- a/mypy/typeanal.py
+++ b/mypy/typeanal.py
@@ -2277,7 +2277,8 @@ def set_any_tvars(
         env[tv.id] = arg
     t = TypeAliasType(node, args, newline, newcolumn)
     if not has_type_var_tuple_type:
-        fixed = expand_type(t, env)
+        with state.strict_optional_set(options.strict_optional):
+            fixed = expand_type(t, env)
         assert isinstance(fixed, TypeAliasType)
         t.args = fixed.args
 
diff --git a/test-data/unit/check-typevar-defaults.test b/test-data/unit/check-typevar-defaults.test
index 3cd94f4a46d2..93d20eb26f6e 100644
--- a/test-data/unit/check-typevar-defaults.test
+++ b/test-data/unit/check-typevar-defaults.test
@@ -728,3 +728,24 @@ class C(Generic[_I]): pass
 
 t: type[C] | int = C
 [builtins fixtures/tuple.pyi]
+
+
+
+[case testGenericTypeAliasWithDefaultTypeVarPreservesNoneInDefault]
+from typing_extensions import TypeVar
+from typing import Generic, Union
+
+T1 = TypeVar("T1", default=Union[int, None])
+T2 = TypeVar("T2", default=Union[int, None])
+
+
+class A(Generic[T1, T2]):
+    def __init__(self, a: T1, b: T2) -> None:
+        self.a = a
+        self.b = b
+
+
+MyA = A[T1, int]
+a: MyA = A(None, 10)
+reveal_type(a.a)  # N: Revealed type is "Union[builtins.int, None]"
+[builtins fixtures/tuple.pyi]