diff --git a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/ext/opencv/meson.build b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/ext/opencv/meson.build
index 1b3be9db2a..c351274ab7 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/ext/opencv/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/ext/opencv/meson.build
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ plugin_sources += {
   'opencv': pathsep.join(doc_sources)
 }
 
-if get_option('opencv').disabled() or not opencv_dep.found()
+if get_option('opencv').disabled() or not opencv_dep.found() or not gstopencv_dep.found()
   subdir_done()
 endif
 
diff --git a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
index 0f2e2fc066..64e913e5a5 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-opencv_dep = disabler()
-gstopencv_dep = disabler()
+opencv_dep = dependency('', required: false)
+gstopencv_dep = dependency('', required: false)
 opencv_opt = get_option('opencv')
 if opencv_opt.disabled()
   subdir_done()
diff --git a/subprojects/gst-plugins-good/ext/meson.build b/subprojects/gst-plugins-good/ext/meson.build
index 95044a264c..ecd3ea67f9 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-plugins-good/ext/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/gst-plugins-good/ext/meson.build
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 # In cases 3,4: we create one static_library() target that links to libsoup
 # In cases 2,4: we create one shared_library() target that dlopen()s libsoup
 
-libsoup2_dep = disabler()
-libsoup3_dep = disabler()
+libsoup2_dep = dependency('', required: false)
+libsoup3_dep = dependency('', required: false)
 soup_ver_opt = get_option('soup-version')
 
 default_library = get_option('default_library')