diff --git a/holoviews/core/data/pandas.py b/holoviews/core/data/pandas.py
index 3806834206..e937ba39e7 100644
--- a/holoviews/core/data/pandas.py
+++ b/holoviews/core/data/pandas.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
-from pandas.api.types import is_period_dtype
 
 from .interface import Interface, DataError
 from ..dimension import dimension_name
@@ -157,8 +156,6 @@ def validate(cls, dataset, vdims=True):
     def range(cls, dataset, dimension):
         dimension = dataset.get_dimension(dimension, strict=True)
         column = dataset.data[dimension.name]
-        if is_period_dtype(column):
-            column = column.dt.to_timestamp()
         if column.dtype.kind == 'O':
             if (not isinstance(dataset.data, pd.DataFrame) or
                 util.LooseVersion(pd.__version__) < util.LooseVersion('0.17.0')):
diff --git a/holoviews/core/util.py b/holoviews/core/util.py
index 1545770126..bce9c0427c 100644
--- a/holoviews/core/util.py
+++ b/holoviews/core/util.py
@@ -922,7 +922,10 @@ def max_range(ranges, combined=True):
                           for r in values for v in r):
                 converted = []
                 for l, h in values:
-                    if isinstance(l, datetime_types) and isinstance(h, datetime_types):
+                    if isinstance(l, pd.Period) and isinstance(h, pd.Period):
+                        l = l.to_timestamp().to_datetime64()
+                        h = h.to_timestamp().to_datetime64()
+                    elif isinstance(l, datetime_types) and isinstance(h, datetime_types):
                         l, h = (pd.Timestamp(l).to_datetime64(),
                                 pd.Timestamp(h).to_datetime64())
                     converted.append((l, h))
diff --git a/holoviews/tests/core/data/test_pandasinterface.py b/holoviews/tests/core/data/test_pandasinterface.py
index dad5a411ae..c7669fb332 100644
--- a/holoviews/tests/core/data/test_pandasinterface.py
+++ b/holoviews/tests/core/data/test_pandasinterface.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from holoviews.core.data import Dataset
 from holoviews.core.data.interface import DataError
 from holoviews.core.spaces import HoloMap
-from holoviews.element import Curve, Scatter, Points, Distribution
+from holoviews.element import Scatter, Points, Distribution
 
 
 from .base import HeterogeneousColumnTests, InterfaceTests
@@ -164,12 +164,6 @@ def test_dataset_with_interface_column(self):
         ds = Dataset(df)
         self.assertEqual(list(ds.data.columns), ['interface'])
 
-    def test_dataset_range_for_pd_period_range(self):
-        period_range = pd.period_range("1990", "1991", freq="M")
-        expected_range = (pd.Timestamp('1990-01-01 00:00:00'), pd.Timestamp('1991-01-01 00:00:00'))
-        curve = Curve((period_range, range(13)))
-        assert curve.range("x") == expected_range
-
 
 class PandasInterfaceTests(BasePandasInterfaceTests):
 
diff --git a/holoviews/tests/core/test_utils.py b/holoviews/tests/core/test_utils.py
index 9c94e190da..3be3e848b3 100644
--- a/holoviews/tests/core/test_utils.py
+++ b/holoviews/tests/core/test_utils.py
@@ -332,6 +332,10 @@ def test_max_range2(self):
         self.assertTrue(math.isnan(lower))
         self.assertTrue(math.isnan(upper))
 
+    def test_max_range3(self):
+        periods = [(pd.Period("1990", freq="M"), pd.Period("1991", freq="M"))]
+        expected = (np.datetime64("1990", 'ns'), np.datetime64("1991", 'ns'))
+        self.assertEqual(max_range(periods), expected)
 
 
 class TestWrapTupleStreams(unittest.TestCase):