diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtension.php b/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtension.php
index b390f2978113b..8e51ec93ef458 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtension.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtension.php
@@ -1402,7 +1402,9 @@ private function registerSerializerConfiguration(array $config, ContainerBuilder
         }
 
         if ($config['max_depth_handler'] ?? false) {
-            $container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->addMethodCall('setMaxDepthHandler', [new Reference($config['max_depth_handler'])]);
+            $defaultContext = $container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->getArgument(6);
+            $defaultContext += ['max_depth_handler' => new Reference($config['max_depth_handler'])];
+            $container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->replaceArgument(6, $defaultContext);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Resources/config/serializer.xml b/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Resources/config/serializer.xml
index 2c1665bea4965..df4e209f6e775 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Resources/config/serializer.xml
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Resources/config/serializer.xml
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@
             <argument type="service" id="serializer.property_accessor" />
             <argument type="service" id="property_info" on-invalid="ignore" />
             <argument type="service" id="serializer.mapping.class_discriminator_resolver" on-invalid="ignore" />
+            <argument>null</argument>
+            <argument type="collection" />
 
             <!-- Run after all custom normalizers -->
             <tag name="serializer.normalizer" priority="-1000" />
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Tests/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtensionTest.php b/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Tests/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtensionTest.php
index 862786c9b8b80..465415f3db49a 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Tests/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtensionTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Tests/DependencyInjection/FrameworkExtensionTest.php
@@ -1067,7 +1067,8 @@ public function testSerializerEnabled()
         $this->assertEquals(new Reference('serializer.name_converter.camel_case_to_snake_case'), $container->getDefinition('serializer.name_converter.metadata_aware')->getArgument(1));
         $this->assertEquals(new Reference('property_info', ContainerBuilder::IGNORE_ON_INVALID_REFERENCE), $container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->getArgument(3));
         $this->assertEquals(['setCircularReferenceHandler', [new Reference('my.circular.reference.handler')]], $container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->getMethodCalls()[0]);
-        $this->assertEquals(['setMaxDepthHandler', [new Reference('my.max.depth.handler')]], $container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->getMethodCalls()[1]);
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('max_depth_handler', $container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->getArgument(6));
+        $this->assertEquals($container->getDefinition('serializer.normalizer.object')->getArgument(6)['max_depth_handler'], new Reference('my.max.depth.handler'));
     }
 
     public function testRegisterSerializerExtractor()
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/AbstractNormalizer.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/AbstractNormalizer.php
index 79e18b7fc3e70..cae8593c15954 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/AbstractNormalizer.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/AbstractNormalizer.php
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ public function __construct(ClassMetadataFactoryInterface $classMetadataFactory
                 }
             }
         }
+
+        if (isset($this->defaultContext[self::CIRCULAR_REFERENCE_HANDLER]) && !\is_callable($this->defaultContext[self::CIRCULAR_REFERENCE_HANDLER])) {
+            throw new InvalidArgumentException(sprintf('Invalid callback found in the "%s" default context option.', self::CIRCULAR_REFERENCE_HANDLER));
+        }
     }
 
     /**