diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 62184b6..8ae7ef4 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Package: ggthemes
-Version: 5.1.0
+Version: 5.1.0.9000
 Title: Extra Themes, Scales and Geoms for 'ggplot2'
 Authors@R: c(person("Jeffrey B.", "Arnold", role = c("aut", "cre"),
     email = "jeffrey.arnold@gmail.com", 
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 633f41b..52454e9 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# ggthemes (development version)
+
+- Updated `theme_solarized` to fix `key.background` color.
+
 # ggthemes 5.1.0
 
 - Updated `scale_color_gdocs` and `gdocs_pal` to use current colors. Palette extended from 10 to 24 colors.
diff --git a/R/solarized.R b/R/solarized.R
index aa78b71..770ac18 100644
--- a/R/solarized.R
+++ b/R/solarized.R
@@ -110,10 +110,7 @@ theme_solarized <- function(base_size = 12, base_family = "", light = TRUE) {
         linetype = 1
       ),
       legend.background = element_rect(fill = NULL, color = NA),
-      legend.key = element_rect(
-        fill = NULL,
-        colour = NULL, linetype = 0
-      ),
+      legend.key = element_blank(),
       panel.background = element_rect(
         fill = rebase["rebase03"],
         colour = rebase["rebase01"]