diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
index 6b46d252b8f..957eefec24a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.test.ts
@@ -724,12 +724,14 @@ describe('Tempo service graph view', () => {
       '/actuator/health/**',
       '$type + [test]|HTTP POST - post',
       'server.cluster.local:9090^/sample.test(.*)?',
+      'test\\path',
     ];
     let escaped = getEscapedSpanNames(spanNames);
     expect(escaped).toEqual([
       '/actuator/health/\\\\*\\\\*',
       '\\\\$type \\\\+ \\\\[test\\\\]\\\\|HTTP POST - post',
       'server\\\\.cluster\\\\.local:9090\\\\^/sample\\\\.test\\\\(\\\\.\\\\*\\\\)\\\\?',
+      'test\\\\\\\\path',
     ]);
   });
 
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
index a453700ed83..04b3ac936e1 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/tempo/datasource.ts
@@ -955,8 +955,10 @@ function makePromLink(title: string, expr: string, datasourceUid: string, instan
   };
 }
 
+// TODO: this is basically the same as prometheus/datasource.ts#prometheusSpecialRegexEscape which is used to escape
+//  template variable values. It would be best to move it to some common place.
 export function getEscapedSpanNames(values: string[]) {
-  return values.map((value: string) => value.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\\\$&'));
+  return values.map((value: string) => value.replace(/\\/g, '\\\\\\\\').replace(/[$^*{}\[\]\'+?.()|]/g, '\\\\$&'));
 }
 
 export function getFieldConfig(