diff --git a/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go b/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
index a5addc974..2cba398f4 100644
--- a/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
+++ b/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ func (a *EEJob) FormatAEEExtraVars(
 	}
 
 	if len(deployment.Spec.ServicesOverride) > 0 {
-		a.ExtraVars["edpm_services_override"] = json.RawMessage([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("\"%s\"", deployment.Spec.ServicesOverride)))
+		a.ExtraVars["edpm_services_override"], _ = json.Marshal(deployment.Spec.ServicesOverride)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go b/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
index 1cf79eb8e..dcd1c8b35 100644
--- a/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
+++ b/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
@@ -183,6 +183,10 @@ func (a *EEJob) JobForOpenStackAnsibleEE(h *helper.Helper) (*batchv1.Job, error)
 		parsedExtraVars := ""
 		// unmarshal nested data structures
 		for _, variable := range keys {
+			if variable == "edpm_services_override" {
+				parsedExtraVars += fmt.Sprintf("%s: %s\n", variable, a.ExtraVars[variable])
+				continue
+			}
 			var tmp interface{}
 			err := yaml.Unmarshal(a.ExtraVars[variable], &tmp)
 			if err != nil {
diff --git a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml
index 049a87c8e..918416c66 100644
--- a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml
+++ b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: edpm-compute-no-nodes
             edpm_service_type: ovn
-            edpm_services_override: [ovn]
+            edpm_services_override: ["ovn"]
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always
diff --git a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml
index ce057fd14..23d13f6ad 100644
--- a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml
+++ b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: edpm-compute-no-nodes
             edpm_service_type: configure-os
-            edpm_services_override: [configure-os]
+            edpm_services_override: ["configure-os"]
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always
diff --git a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml
index f9769a336..114bbd9a7 100644
--- a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml
+++ b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: openstack-edpm-tls
             edpm_service_type: tls-dns-ips
-            edpm_services_override: [install-certs-ovrd tls-dns-ips custom-tls-dns]
+            edpm_services_override: ["install-certs-ovrd","tls-dns-ips","custom-tls-dns"]
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: openstack-edpm-tls
             edpm_service_type: custom-tls-dns
-            edpm_services_override: [install-certs-ovrd tls-dns-ips custom-tls-dns]
+            edpm_services_override: ["install-certs-ovrd","tls-dns-ips","custom-tls-dns"]
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always