diff --git a/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/GraphNG/utils.ts b/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/GraphNG/utils.ts
index 427408064a0..cc7feecd4a0 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/GraphNG/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-ui/src/components/GraphNG/utils.ts
@@ -17,13 +17,11 @@ function applySpanNullsThresholds(frame: DataFrame) {
       continue;
     }
 
-    if (field.type === FieldType.number) {
-      let spanNulls = field.config.custom?.spanNulls;
+    let spanNulls = field.config.custom?.spanNulls;
 
-      if (typeof spanNulls === 'number') {
-        if (spanNulls !== -1) {
-          field.values = new ArrayVector(nullToUndefThreshold(refValues, field.values.toArray(), spanNulls));
-        }
+    if (typeof spanNulls === 'number') {
+      if (spanNulls !== -1) {
+        field.values = new ArrayVector(nullToUndefThreshold(refValues, field.values.toArray(), spanNulls));
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/module.tsx b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/module.tsx
index e45c66fceab..2aed7c0165b 100755
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/module.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/module.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,17 @@
-import { FieldColorModeId, FieldConfigProperty, PanelPlugin } from '@grafana/data';
+import {
+  FieldColorModeId,
+  FieldConfigProperty,
+  FieldType,
+  identityOverrideProcessor,
+  PanelPlugin,
+} from '@grafana/data';
 import { StateTimelinePanel } from './StateTimelinePanel';
 import { TimelineOptions, TimelineFieldConfig, defaultPanelOptions, defaultTimelineFieldConfig } from './types';
 import { VisibilityMode } from '@grafana/schema';
 import { commonOptionsBuilder } from '@grafana/ui';
 import { timelinePanelChangedHandler } from './migrations';
 import { StatTimelineSuggestionsSupplier } from './suggestions';
+import { SpanNullsEditor } from '../timeseries/SpanNullsEditor';
 
 export const plugin = new PanelPlugin<TimelineOptions, TimelineFieldConfig>(StateTimelinePanel)
   .setPanelChangeHandler(timelinePanelChangedHandler)
@@ -40,6 +47,16 @@ export const plugin = new PanelPlugin<TimelineOptions, TimelineFieldConfig>(Stat
             max: 100,
             step: 1,
           },
+        })
+        .addCustomEditor<void, boolean>({
+          id: 'spanNulls',
+          path: 'spanNulls',
+          name: 'Connect null values',
+          defaultValue: false,
+          editor: SpanNullsEditor,
+          override: SpanNullsEditor,
+          shouldApply: (f) => f.type !== FieldType.time,
+          process: identityOverrideProcessor,
         });
     },
   })
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts
index 74209a04412..1b5a7ff3036 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/state-timeline/utils.ts
@@ -310,6 +310,15 @@ export function unsetSameFutureValues(values: any[]): any[] | undefined {
   return clone;
 }
 
+function getSpanNulls(field: Field) {
+  let spanNulls = field.config.custom?.spanNulls;
+
+  // magic value for join() to leave nulls alone instead of expanding null ranges
+  // should be set to -1 when spanNulls = null|undefined|false|0, which is "retain nulls, without expanding"
+  // Infinity is not optimal here since it causes spanNulls to be more expensive than simply removing all nulls unconditionally
+  return !spanNulls ? -1 : spanNulls === true ? Infinity : spanNulls;
+}
+
 /**
  * Merge values by the threshold
  */
@@ -359,8 +368,7 @@ export function mergeThresholdValues(field: Field, theme: GrafanaTheme2): Field
       ...field.config,
       custom: {
         ...field.config.custom,
-        // magic value for join() to leave nulls alone
-        spanNulls: -1,
+        spanNulls: getSpanNulls(field),
       },
     },
     type: FieldType.string,
@@ -413,8 +421,7 @@ export function prepareTimelineFields(
               ...field.config,
               custom: {
                 ...field.config.custom,
-                // magic value for join() to leave nulls alone
-                spanNulls: -1,
+                spanNulls: getSpanNulls(field),
               },
             },
           };