diff --git a/spec/unit/models/thread.spec.ts b/spec/unit/models/thread.spec.ts
index 8b451b48847..05bd12200e6 100644
--- a/spec/unit/models/thread.spec.ts
+++ b/spec/unit/models/thread.spec.ts
@@ -675,6 +675,69 @@ describe("Thread", () => {
             });
         });
     });
+
+    describe("addEvent", () => {
+        describe("Given server support for threads", () => {
+            let previousThreadHasServerSideSupport: FeatureSupport;
+
+            beforeAll(() => {
+                previousThreadHasServerSideSupport = Thread.hasServerSideSupport;
+                Thread.hasServerSideSupport = FeatureSupport.Stable;
+            });
+
+            afterAll(() => {
+                Thread.hasServerSideSupport = previousThreadHasServerSideSupport;
+            });
+
+            it("Adds events even if they appear out of order", async () => {
+                // Given a thread exists
+                const client = createClient();
+                const user = "@alice:matrix.org";
+                const room = "!room:z";
+                const thread = await createThread(client, user, room);
+                const prevNumEvents = thread.timeline.length;
+
+                // When two messages come in but the later one has an older timestamp
+                const message1 = createThreadMessage(thread.id, user, room, "message1");
+                const message2 = createThreadMessage(thread.id, user, room, "message2");
+                message2.localTimestamp -= 10000;
+
+                await thread.addEvent(message1, false);
+                await thread.addEvent(message2, false);
+
+                // Then both events end up in the timeline
+                expect(thread.timeline.length - prevNumEvents).toEqual(2);
+                const lastEvent = thread.timeline.at(-1)!;
+                const secondLastEvent = thread.timeline.at(-2)!;
+                expect(lastEvent).toBe(message2);
+                expect(secondLastEvent).toBe(message1);
+            });
+
+            it("Adds events to start even if they appear out of order", async () => {
+                // Given a thread exists
+                const client = createClient();
+                const user = "@alice:matrix.org";
+                const room = "!room:z";
+                const thread = await createThread(client, user, room);
+                const prevNumEvents = thread.timeline.length;
+
+                // When two messages come in but the later one has an older timestamp
+                const message1 = createThreadMessage(thread.id, user, room, "message1");
+                const message2 = createThreadMessage(thread.id, user, room, "message2");
+                message2.localTimestamp -= 10000;
+
+                await thread.addEvent(message1, false);
+                await thread.addEvent(message2, true);
+
+                // Then both events end up in the timeline
+                expect(thread.timeline.length - prevNumEvents).toEqual(2);
+                const lastEvent = thread.timeline.at(-1)!;
+                const firstEvent = thread.timeline.at(0)!;
+                expect(lastEvent).toBe(message1);
+                expect(firstEvent).toBe(message2);
+            });
+        });
+    });
 });
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/models/thread.ts b/src/models/thread.ts
index 4003f810f0f..1da3fca558b 100644
--- a/src/models/thread.ts
+++ b/src/models/thread.ts
@@ -430,22 +430,19 @@ export class Thread extends ReadReceipt<ThreadEmittedEvents, ThreadEventHandlerM
             // If initial events have not been fetched, we are OK to throw away
             // this event, because we are about to fetch all the events for this
             // thread from the server.
-            //
-            // If not, this looks like a bug - we should always add the event to
-            // the thread. See https://github.com/vector-im/element-web/issues/26254
-            logger.warn(
-                `Not adding event ${event.getId()} to thread timeline!
-                isNewestReply=${isNewestReply}
-                event.localTimestamp=${event.localTimestamp}
-                !!lastReply=${!!lastReply}
-                lastReply?.getId()=${lastReply?.getId()}
-                lastReply?.localTimestamp=${lastReply?.localTimestamp}
-                toStartOfTimeline=${toStartOfTimeline}
-                Thread.hasServerSideSupport=${Thread.hasServerSideSupport}
-                event.isRelation(RelationType.Annotation)=${event.isRelation(RelationType.Annotation)}
-                event.isRelation(RelationType.Replace)=${event.isRelation(RelationType.Replace)}
-                `,
-            );
+
+            // Otherwise, we should add it, but we suspect it is out of order.
+            if (toStartOfTimeline) {
+                // If we're adding at the start of the timeline, it doesn't
+                // matter that it's out of order.
+                this.addEventToTimeline(event, toStartOfTimeline);
+            } else {
+                // We think this event might be out of order, because isNewestReply
+                // is false (otherwise we would have gone into the earlier if
+                // clause), so try to insert it in the right place based on
+                // timestamp.
+                this.insertEventIntoTimeline(event);
+            }
         }
 
         if (