diff --git a/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout.go b/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout.go
index 23c4bb70b..d4249740e 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout.go
@@ -3,11 +3,6 @@ package checkout
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"net/http"
-	"os"
-	"os/exec"
-	"strings"
-
 	"github.com/cli/cli/api"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/context"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/git"
@@ -18,6 +13,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cli/cli/pkg/cmdutil"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/pkg/iostreams"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 type CheckoutOptions struct {
@@ -28,7 +27,8 @@ type CheckoutOptions struct {
 	Remotes    func() (context.Remotes, error)
 	Branch     func() (string, error)
 
-	SelectorArg string
+	SelectorArg       string
+	RecurseSubmodules bool
 }
 
 func NewCmdCheckout(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*CheckoutOptions) error) *cobra.Command {
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ func NewCmdCheckout(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*CheckoutOptions) error) *cobr
 		},
 	}
 
+	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&opts.RecurseSubmodules, "recurse-submodules", "", false, "Update all active submodules (recursively)")
+
 	return cmd
 }
 
@@ -166,6 +168,11 @@ func checkoutRun(opts *CheckoutOptions) error {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if opts.RecurseSubmodules {
+		cmdQueue = append(cmdQueue, []string{"git", "submodule", "sync", "--recursive"})
+		cmdQueue = append(cmdQueue, []string{"git", "submodule", "update", "--init", "--recursive"})
+	}
+
 	for _, args := range cmdQueue {
 		cmd := exec.Command(args[0], args[1:]...)
 		cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout_test.go b/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout_test.go
index 847702c77..c49fef7e0 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/pr/checkout/checkout_test.go
@@ -565,3 +565,45 @@ func TestPRCheckout_maintainerCanModify(t *testing.T) {
 	eq(t, strings.Join(ranCommands[2], " "), "git config branch.feature.remote https://github.com/hubot/REPO.git")
 	eq(t, strings.Join(ranCommands[3], " "), "git config branch.feature.merge refs/heads/feature")
 }
+
+func TestPRCheckout_recurseSubmodules(t *testing.T) {
+	http := &httpmock.Registry{}
+
+	http.Register(httpmock.GraphQL(`query PullRequestByNumber\b`), httpmock.StringResponse(`
+	{ "data": { "repository": { "pullRequest": {
+		"number": 123,
+		"headRefName": "feature",
+		"headRepositoryOwner": {
+			"login": "hubot"
+		},
+		"headRepository": {
+			"name": "REPO"
+		},
+		"isCrossRepository": false,
+		"maintainerCanModify": false
+	} } } }
+	`))
+
+	ranCommands := [][]string{}
+	restoreCmd := run.SetPrepareCmd(func(cmd *exec.Cmd) run.Runnable {
+		switch strings.Join(cmd.Args, " ") {
+		case "git show-ref --verify -- refs/heads/feature":
+			return &test.OutputStub{}
+		default:
+			ranCommands = append(ranCommands, cmd.Args)
+			return &test.OutputStub{}
+		}
+	})
+	defer restoreCmd()
+
+	output, err := runCommand(http, nil, "master", `123 --recurse-submodules`)
+	eq(t, err, nil)
+	eq(t, output.String(), "")
+
+	eq(t, len(ranCommands), 5)
+	eq(t, strings.Join(ranCommands[0], " "), "git fetch origin +refs/heads/feature:refs/remotes/origin/feature")
+	eq(t, strings.Join(ranCommands[1], " "), "git checkout feature")
+	eq(t, strings.Join(ranCommands[2], " "), "git merge --ff-only refs/remotes/origin/feature")
+	eq(t, strings.Join(ranCommands[3], " "), "git submodule sync --recursive")
+	eq(t, strings.Join(ranCommands[4], " "), "git submodule update --init --recursive")
+}