diff --git a/lib/screens/video_player/parts/episode_navigation.dart b/lib/screens/video_player/parts/episode_navigation.dart
index abc3be90..2435b244 100644
--- a/lib/screens/video_player/parts/episode_navigation.dart
+++ b/lib/screens/video_player/parts/episode_navigation.dart
@@ -15,8 +15,11 @@ Future<bool> deferTranscodeSubtitleSelection({
 }) async {
   final deferredTrack = PlaybackSubtitleResolver.subtitleTrackForSource(sourceTrack, sidecar: sourceSidecar);
   trackManager.preferredSubtitleTrack = deferredTrack;
-  trackManager.applyTrackSelectionWhenReady();
+  // Persist first: the screen callback routes to onSubtitleTrackSelectedByUser,
+  // which invalidates the pending selection. Arming before that would retire the
+  // deferred pass we depend on to apply this choice once mpv discovers the sidecar.
   await onSubtitleTrackChanged(deferredTrack, sourceStreamId: sourceStreamId);
+  trackManager.applyTrackSelectionWhenReady();
   return shouldContinue();
 }
 
diff --git a/test/services/track_manager_test.dart b/test/services/track_manager_test.dart
index ab6a5cbd..15ee16a2 100644
--- a/test/services/track_manager_test.dart
+++ b/test/services/track_manager_test.dart
@@ -654,6 +654,7 @@ void main() {
         onSubtitleTrackChanged: (track, {sourceStreamId}) async {
           persistedTrack = track;
           persistedSourceStreamId = sourceStreamId;
+          await mgr.onSubtitleTrackSelectedByUser(track, sourceStreamId: sourceStreamId);
         },
         shouldContinue: () => true,
       );
@@ -685,6 +686,78 @@ void main() {
       expect(player.selectedSubtitle.map((track) => track.id), ['native-0']);
     });
 
+    test('persisting a deferred transcode choice keeps the late-track pass armed', () async {
+      await SettingsService.getInstance();
+      final sourceTrack = MediaSubtitleTrack(
+        id: 32,
+        index: 0,
+        languageCode: 'spa',
+        title: 'Spanish',
+        codec: 'srt',
+        selected: false,
+        forced: false,
+      );
+      final player = _FakePlayer(
+        tracks: const Tracks(
+          audio: [AudioTrack(id: 'audio', language: 'eng')],
+        ),
+      );
+      final mgr = _make(
+        player: player,
+        mediaInfo: MediaSourceInfo(
+          videoUrl: 'https://example.com/transcode.m3u8',
+          partId: 100,
+          audioTracks: [MediaAudioTrack(id: 1, languageCode: 'eng', selected: true)],
+          subtitleTracks: [sourceTrack],
+          chapters: const [],
+        ),
+      );
+      addTearDown(mgr.dispose);
+
+      await deferTranscodeSubtitleSelection(
+        trackManager: mgr,
+        sourceTrack: sourceTrack,
+        sourceSidecar: const PlaybackSubtitleSidecar(
+          sourceStreamId: 32,
+          preload: true,
+          track: SubtitleTrack(
+            id: 'container:32',
+            language: 'spa',
+            title: 'Spanish',
+            codec: 'srt',
+            isExternal: true,
+            isContainer: true,
+            uri: 'https://example.com/video.mkv',
+          ),
+        ),
+        sourceStreamId: 32,
+        onSubtitleTrackChanged: (track, {sourceStreamId}) =>
+            mgr.onSubtitleTrackSelectedByUser(track, sourceStreamId: sourceStreamId),
+        shouldContinue: () => true,
+      );
+      expect(player.selectedSubtitle, isEmpty);
+
+      player.emitTracks(
+        const Tracks(
+          audio: [AudioTrack(id: 'audio', language: 'eng')],
+          subtitle: [
+            SubtitleTrack(
+              id: 'native-late',
+              language: 'spa',
+              title: 'Spanish',
+              codec: 'srt',
+              isExternal: true,
+              isContainer: true,
+              uri: 'https://example.com/video.mkv',
+            ),
+          ],
+        ),
+      );
+      await _drainAsync();
+
+      expect(player.selectedSubtitle.map((track) => track.id), ['native-late']);
+    });
+
     test('five-second fallback keeps listening and applies a late advertised subtitle', () async {
       await SettingsService.getInstance();