diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 382c915..713e986 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ There are multiple ways to install the role. Either clone or download it directl
 ansible-galaxy install roles-ansible.restic
 ```
 ## Requirements
+
 * bzip2
-* jmespath
 
 ## Role Variables
 
diff --git a/tasks/backup.yml b/tasks/backup.yml
index 55b438a..ba7c253 100644
--- a/tasks/backup.yml
+++ b/tasks/backup.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 - name: (BACKUP) reformat dict if necessary
   ansible.builtin.set_fact:
-    restic_backups: "{{ restic_backups | dict2items | json_query('[*].value') }}"
+    restic_backups: "{{ restic_backups | default([]) | map('extract', restic_backups) | list }}"
   when:
     - restic_backups | type_debug == "dict"