diff --git a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/hpack/Encoder.java b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/hpack/Encoder.java
index 3c2a0c7e23..079f5b76ee 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/hpack/Encoder.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/hpack/Encoder.java
@@ -454,6 +454,9 @@ public final class Encoder {
         private void remove() {
             before.after = after;
             after.before = before;
+            before = null; // null references to prevent nepotism in generational GC.
+            after = null;
+            next = null;
         }
 
         /**