 <blockquote> <p>I have a fragment that needs to restore the its containing RecyclerView upon screen rotation. I've been using the standard procedure with onViewStateRestored() and onSaveInstantState(). However, I'm getting a null point exception when I rotate the screen.</p> </blockquote> <p>you have done it wrongly. You do not need to save layoutManager for rotation changes, just instantiate it every time. if you have any other <strong>DATA</strong> save them and use them to create your layoutManager.</p>