diff --git a/tractor/_spawn.py b/tractor/_spawn.py
index 3d7e6b1..b3657b7 100644
--- a/tractor/_spawn.py
+++ b/tractor/_spawn.py
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ async def new_proc(
             # the OS; it otherwise can be passed via the parent channel if
             # we prefer in the future (for privacy).
             "--uid",
-            str(subactor.uid),
+            str(uid),
             # Address the child must connect to on startup
             "--parent_addr",
             str(parent_addr)
@@ -321,8 +321,7 @@ async def new_proc(
                 # wait for actor to spawn and connect back to us
                 # channel should have handshake completed by the
                 # local actor by the time we get a ref to it
-                event, chan = await actor_nursery._actor.wait_for_peer(
-                    subactor.uid)
+                event, chan = await actor_nursery._actor.wait_for_peer(uid)
 
             except trio.Cancelled:
                 cancelled_during_spawn = True
@@ -363,10 +362,54 @@ async def new_proc(
             task_status.started(portal)
 
             # wait for ActorNursery.wait() to be called
+            n_exited = actor_nursery._join_procs
             with trio.CancelScope(shield=True):
-                await actor_nursery._join_procs.wait()
+                await n_exited.wait()
 
             async with trio.open_nursery() as nursery:
+
+                async def soft_wait_and_maybe_cancel_ria_task():
+                    # This is a "soft" (cancellable) join/reap which
+                    # will remote cancel the actor on a ``trio.Cancelled``
+                    # condition.
+                    await soft_wait(
+                        proc,
+                        trio.Process.wait,
+                        portal
+                    )
+
+                    if n_exited.is_set():
+                        # cancel result waiter that may have been spawned in
+                        # tandem if not done already
+                        log.warning(
+                            "Cancelling existing result waiter task for "
+                            f"{subactor.uid}"
+                        )
+                        nursery.cancel_scope.cancel()
+
+                    else:
+                        log.warning(
+                            f'Process for actor {uid} terminated before'
+                            'nursery exit. ' 'This may mean an IPC'
+                            'connection failed!'
+                        )
+
+                nursery.start_soon(soft_wait_and_maybe_cancel_ria_task)
+
+                # TODO: when we finally remove the `.run_in_actor()` api
+                # we should be able to entirely drop these 2 blocking calls:
+                # - we don't need to wait on nursery exit to capture
+                #   process-spawn-machinery level errors (and propagate them).
+                # - we don't need to wait on final results from ria portals
+                #   since this will be done in some higher level wrapper API.
+
+                # XXX: interestingly we can't put this here bc it causes
+                # the pub-sub tests to fail? wth.. should probably drop
+                # those XD
+                # wait for ActorNursery.wait() to be called
+                # with trio.CancelScope(shield=True):
+                #     await n_exited.wait()
+
                 if portal in actor_nursery._cancel_after_result_on_exit:
                     nursery.start_soon(
                         cancel_on_completion,
@@ -375,22 +418,6 @@ async def new_proc(
                         errors
                     )
 
-                # This is a "soft" (cancellable) join/reap which
-                # will remote cancel the actor on a ``trio.Cancelled``
-                # condition.
-                await soft_wait(
-                    proc,
-                    trio.Process.wait,
-                    portal
-                )
-
-                # cancel result waiter that may have been spawned in
-                # tandem if not done already
-                log.warning(
-                    "Cancelling existing result waiter task for "
-                    f"{subactor.uid}")
-                nursery.cancel_scope.cancel()
-
         finally:
             # The "hard" reap since no actor zombies are allowed!
             # XXX: do this **after** cancellation/tearfown to avoid
@@ -407,8 +434,10 @@ async def new_proc(
                                 await proc.wait()
 
                     if is_root_process():
+
                         await maybe_wait_for_debugger(
-                            child_in_debug=_runtime_vars.get('_debug_mode', False),
+                            child_in_debug=_runtime_vars.get(
+                                '_debug_mode', False)
                         )
 
                     if proc.poll() is None: