diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.test.ts b/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.test.ts
index 8207fa21988..23c2f7be0b3 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import {
   ArrayVector,
+  DataFrame,
   DataLink,
   dateTime,
   Field,
@@ -7,9 +8,11 @@ import {
   InterpolateFunction,
   LinkModel,
   TimeRange,
+  toDataFrame,
 } from '@grafana/data';
 import { setTemplateSrv } from '@grafana/runtime';
 
+import { initTemplateSrv } from '../../../../test/helpers/initTemplateSrv';
 import { setContextSrv } from '../../../core/services/context_srv';
 import { setLinkSrv } from '../../panel/panellinks/link_srv';
 
@@ -17,18 +20,13 @@ import { getFieldLinksForExplore } from './links';
 
 describe('getFieldLinksForExplore', () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
-    setTemplateSrv({
-      replace(target, scopedVars, format) {
-        return target ?? '';
-      },
-      getVariables() {
-        return [];
-      },
-      containsTemplate() {
-        return false;
-      },
-      updateTimeRange(timeRange: TimeRange) {},
-    });
+    setTemplateSrv(
+      initTemplateSrv('key', [
+        { type: 'custom', name: 'emptyVar', current: { value: null } },
+        { type: 'custom', name: 'num', current: { value: 1 } },
+        { type: 'custom', name: 'test', current: { value: 'foo' } },
+      ])
+    );
   });
 
   it('returns correct link model for external link', () => {
@@ -36,7 +34,12 @@ describe('getFieldLinksForExplore', () => {
       title: 'external',
       url: 'http://regionalhost',
     });
-    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: 0, splitOpenFn: jest.fn(), range });
+    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({
+      field,
+      rowIndex: ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE.index,
+      splitOpenFn: jest.fn(),
+      range,
+    });
 
     expect(links[0].href).toBe('http://regionalhost');
     expect(links[0].title).toBe('external');
@@ -47,7 +50,12 @@ describe('getFieldLinksForExplore', () => {
       title: '',
       url: 'http://regionalhost',
     });
-    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: 0, splitOpenFn: jest.fn(), range });
+    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({
+      field,
+      rowIndex: ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE.index,
+      splitOpenFn: jest.fn(),
+      range,
+    });
 
     expect(links[0].href).toBe('http://regionalhost');
     expect(links[0].title).toBe('regionalhost');
@@ -69,7 +77,7 @@ describe('getFieldLinksForExplore', () => {
       },
     });
     const splitfn = jest.fn();
-    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: 0, splitOpenFn: splitfn, range });
+    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE.index, splitOpenFn: splitfn, range });
 
     expect(links[0].href).toBe(
       `/explore?left=${encodeURIComponent(
@@ -102,7 +110,7 @@ describe('getFieldLinksForExplore', () => {
       },
       false
     );
-    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: 0, range });
+    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE.index, range });
 
     expect(links[0].href).toBe('http://regionalhost');
     expect(links[0].title).toBe('external');
@@ -121,11 +129,42 @@ describe('getFieldLinksForExplore', () => {
       },
       false
     );
-    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: 0, range });
+    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE.index, range });
+    expect(links).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it('returns internal links when target contains defined template variables', () => {
+    const { field, range, dataFrame } = setup({
+      title: '',
+      url: '',
+      internal: {
+        query: { query: 'query_1-${__data.fields.flux-dimensions}' },
+        datasourceUid: 'uid_1',
+        datasourceName: 'test_ds',
+      },
+    });
+    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE.index, range, dataFrame });
+    expect(links).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it('returns no internal links when target contains empty template variables', () => {
+    const { field, range, dataFrame } = setup({
+      title: '',
+      url: '',
+      internal: {
+        query: { query: 'query_1-${__data.fields.flux-dimensions}' },
+        datasourceUid: 'uid_1',
+        datasourceName: 'test_ds',
+      },
+    });
+    const links = getFieldLinksForExplore({ field, rowIndex: ROW_WITH_NULL_VALUE.index, range, dataFrame });
     expect(links).toHaveLength(0);
   });
 });
 
+const ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE = { value: 'foo', index: 0 };
+const ROW_WITH_NULL_VALUE = { value: null, index: 1 };
+
 function setup(link: DataLink, hasAccess = true) {
   setLinkSrv({
     getDataLinkUIModel(link: DataLink, replaceVariables: InterpolateFunction | undefined, origin: any): LinkModel<any> {
@@ -148,15 +187,19 @@ function setup(link: DataLink, hasAccess = true) {
     hasAccessToExplore: () => hasAccess,
   } as any);
 
-  const field: Field<string> = {
+  const field: Field<string | null> = {
     name: 'flux-dimensions',
     type: FieldType.string,
-    values: new ArrayVector([]),
+    values: new ArrayVector([ROW_WITH_TEXT_VALUE.value, ROW_WITH_NULL_VALUE.value]),
     config: {
       links: [link],
     },
   };
 
+  const dataFrame: DataFrame = toDataFrame({
+    fields: [field],
+  });
+
   const range: TimeRange = {
     from: dateTime('2020-10-14T00:00:00'),
     to: dateTime('2020-10-14T01:00:00'),
@@ -166,5 +209,5 @@ function setup(link: DataLink, hasAccess = true) {
     },
   };
 
-  return { range, field };
+  return { range, field, dataFrame };
 }
diff --git a/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.ts b/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.ts
index 92198743149..ad0f27341e0 100644
--- a/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/explore/utils/links.ts
@@ -10,12 +10,44 @@ import {
   DataFrame,
   getFieldDisplayValuesProxy,
   SplitOpen,
+  DataLink,
 } from '@grafana/data';
 import { getTemplateSrv } from '@grafana/runtime';
 import { contextSrv } from 'app/core/services/context_srv';
 
 import { getLinkSrv } from '../../panel/panellinks/link_srv';
 
+type DataLinkFilter = (link: DataLink, scopedVars: ScopedVars) => boolean;
+
+const dataLinkHasRequiredPermissions = (link: DataLink) => {
+  return !link.internal || contextSrv.hasAccessToExplore();
+};
+
+const dataLinkHasAllVariablesDefined = (link: DataLink, scopedVars: ScopedVars) => {
+  let hasAllRequiredVarDefined = true;
+
+  if (link.internal) {
+    let stringifiedQuery = '';
+    try {
+      stringifiedQuery = JSON.stringify(link.internal.query || {});
+      // Hook into format function to verify if all values are non-empty
+      // Format function is run on all existing field values allowing us to check it's value is non-empty
+      getTemplateSrv().replace(stringifiedQuery, scopedVars, (f: string) => {
+        hasAllRequiredVarDefined = hasAllRequiredVarDefined && !!f;
+        return '';
+      });
+    } catch (err) {}
+  }
+
+  return hasAllRequiredVarDefined;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Fixed list of filters used in Explore. DataLinks that do not pass all the filters will not
+ * be passed back to the visualization.
+ */
+const DATA_LINK_FILTERS: DataLinkFilter[] = [dataLinkHasAllVariablesDefined, dataLinkHasRequiredPermissions];
+
 /**
  * Get links from the field of a dataframe and in addition check if there is associated
  * metadata with datasource in which case we will add onClick to open the link in new split window. This assumes
@@ -56,13 +88,9 @@ export const getFieldLinksForExplore = (options: {
   }
 
   if (field.config.links) {
-    const links = [];
-
-    if (!contextSrv.hasAccessToExplore()) {
-      links.push(...field.config.links.filter((l) => !l.internal));
-    } else {
-      links.push(...field.config.links);
-    }
+    const links = field.config.links.filter((link) => {
+      return DATA_LINK_FILTERS.every((filter) => filter(link, scopedVars));
+    });
 
     return links.map((link) => {
       if (!link.internal) {