diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php
index eb35bc6..bfd9769 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/GeneratedLink.php
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 namespace Drupal\Core;
 
+use Drupal\Component\Utility\SafeStringInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\Render\BubbleableMetadata;
 
 /**
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@
  * Note: not to be confused with \Drupal\Core\Link, which is for passing around
  *   ungenerated links (typically link text + route name + route parameters).
  */
-class GeneratedLink extends BubbleableMetadata {
+class GeneratedLink extends BubbleableMetadata implements SafeStringInterface {
 
   /**
    * The HTML string value containing a link.
@@ -46,4 +47,18 @@ public function setGeneratedLink($generated_link) {
     return $this;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  public function __toString() {
+    return (string) $this->generatedLink;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  public function jsonSerialize() {
+    return $this->__toString();
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php
index fd282e9..21f7617 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/LinkGenerator.php
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ public function generate($text, Url $url, $collect_bubbleable_metadata = FALSE)
 
     if (!$collect_bubbleable_metadata) {
       $url_string = $url->toString($collect_bubbleable_metadata);
+      $generated_link = new GeneratedLink();
     }
     else {
       $generated_url = $url->toString($collect_bubbleable_metadata);
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ public function generate($text, Url $url, $collect_bubbleable_metadata = FALSE)
     // either rendered or escaped.
     $result = SafeString::create('<a' . $attributes . '>' . $variables['text'] . '</a>');
 
-    return $collect_bubbleable_metadata ? $generated_link->setGeneratedLink($result) : $result;
+    return $generated_link->setGeneratedLink($result);
   }
 
 }