diff --git a/openpype/hosts/houdini/plugins/publish/extract_opengl.py b/openpype/hosts/houdini/plugins/publish/extract_opengl.py
index 38808089ac9..e5b83273cc6 100644
--- a/openpype/hosts/houdini/plugins/publish/extract_opengl.py
+++ b/openpype/hosts/houdini/plugins/publish/extract_opengl.py
@@ -49,3 +49,7 @@ def process(self, instance):
         if "representations" not in instance.data:
             instance.data["representations"] = []
         instance.data["representations"].append(representation)
+
+        # Use the first image as a thumbnail if it's not already set.
+        if not instance.data.get("thumbnailSource") and output:
+            instance.data["thumbnailSource"] = os.path.join(staging_dir, output[0])