diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/objects/objects.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/objects/objects.scala
index 80618af1e859f..03cc8eaceb4e6 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/objects/objects.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/objects/objects.scala
@@ -382,8 +382,14 @@ case class UnwrapOption(
 
   override def inputTypes: Seq[AbstractDataType] = ObjectType :: Nil
 
-  override def eval(input: InternalRow): Any =
-    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Only code-generated evaluation is supported")
+  override def eval(input: InternalRow): Any = {
+    val inputObject = child.eval(input)
+    if (inputObject == null) {
+      null
+    } else {
+      inputObject.asInstanceOf[Option[_]].orNull
+    }
+  }
 
   override def doGenCode(ctx: CodegenContext, ev: ExprCode): ExprCode = {
     val javaType = CodeGenerator.javaType(dataType)
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/ObjectExpressionsSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/ObjectExpressionsSuite.scala
index 3edcc02f15264..d95db5867b19c 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/ObjectExpressionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/ObjectExpressionsSuite.scala
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions
 import org.apache.spark.SparkFunSuite
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.InternalRow
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.encoders.ExpressionEncoder
-import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.objects.Invoke
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.objects.{Invoke, UnwrapOption}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.util.{ArrayBasedMapData, GenericArrayData}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types.{IntegerType, ObjectType}
 
@@ -66,4 +66,13 @@ class ObjectExpressionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
     checkEvalutionWithUnsafeProjection(
       mapEncoder.serializer.head, mapExpected, mapInputRow)
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-23585: UnwrapOption should support interpreted execution") {
+    val cls = classOf[Option[Int]]
+    val inputObject = BoundReference(0, ObjectType(cls), nullable = true)
+    val unwrapObject = UnwrapOption(IntegerType, inputObject)
+    Seq((Some(1), 1), (None, null), (null, null)).foreach { case (input, expected) =>
+      checkEvaluation(unwrapObject, expected, InternalRow.fromSeq(Seq(input)))
+    }
+  }
 }