diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/debug.py b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/debug.py
index 075b1cc76f..ee9c6ec32b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/debug.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/debug.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import ansible
 
 from ansible import utils
+from ansible.utils import template
 from ansible.runner.return_data import ReturnData
 
 class ActionModule(object):
@@ -49,14 +50,8 @@ class ActionModule(object):
             else:
                 result = dict(msg=args['msg'])
         elif 'var' in args:
-
-            results = utils.safe_eval(args['var'], inject, include_exceptions=True)
-            intermediate = results[0]
-            exception = results[1]
-            print exception
-            if exception is not None:
-                intermediate = "failed to evaluate: %s" % str(exception)
-            result[args['var']] = intermediate
+            results = template.template(None, "{{ %s }}" % args['var'], inject)
+            result[args['var']] = results
 
         # force flag to make debug output module always verbose
         result['verbose_always'] = True