diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/handle-role-dependency-type-error.yml b/changelogs/fragments/handle-role-dependency-type-error.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7b2ac45b2d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/handle-role-dependency-type-error.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - ansible-galaxy - Fix unhandled traceback if a role's dependencies in meta/main.yml or meta/requirements.yml are not lists.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py b/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
index 6742b66f8ec..cb37291eeec 100755
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
@@ -1376,9 +1376,10 @@ class GalaxyCLI(CLI):
             # install dependencies, if we want them
             if not no_deps and installed:
                 if not role.metadata:
+                    # NOTE: the meta file is also required for installing the role, not just dependencies
                     display.warning("Meta file %s is empty. Skipping dependencies." % role.path)
                 else:
-                    role_dependencies = (role.metadata.get('dependencies') or []) + role.requirements
+                    role_dependencies = role.metadata_dependencies + role.requirements
                     for dep in role_dependencies:
                         display.debug('Installing dep %s' % dep)
                         dep_req = RoleRequirement()
diff --git a/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py b/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py
index 058174c931e..7a13c971575 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py
@@ -27,14 +27,16 @@ import datetime
 import os
 import tarfile
 import tempfile
-from ansible.module_utils.compat.version import LooseVersion
+
+from collections.abc import MutableSequence
 from shutil import rmtree
 
 from ansible import context
-from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
+from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleParserError
 from ansible.galaxy.user_agent import user_agent
 from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native, to_text
 from ansible.module_utils.common.yaml import yaml_dump, yaml_load
+from ansible.module_utils.compat.version import LooseVersion
 from ansible.module_utils.urls import open_url
 from ansible.playbook.role.requirement import RoleRequirement
 from ansible.utils.display import Display
@@ -53,6 +55,7 @@ class GalaxyRole(object):
     def __init__(self, galaxy, api, name, src=None, version=None, scm=None, path=None):
 
         self._metadata = None
+        self._metadata_dependencies = None
         self._requirements = None
         self._install_info = None
         self._validate_certs = not context.CLIARGS['ignore_certs']
@@ -120,6 +123,24 @@ class GalaxyRole(object):
 
         return self._metadata
 
+    @property
+    def metadata_dependencies(self):
+        """
+        Returns a list of dependencies from role metadata
+        """
+        if self._metadata_dependencies is None:
+            self._metadata_dependencies = []
+
+            if self.metadata is not None:
+                self._metadata_dependencies = self.metadata.get('dependencies') or []
+
+        if not isinstance(self._metadata_dependencies, MutableSequence):
+            raise AnsibleParserError(
+                f"Expected role dependencies to be a list. Role {self} has meta/main.yml with dependencies {self._metadata_dependencies}"
+            )
+
+        return self._metadata_dependencies
+
     @property
     def install_info(self):
         """
@@ -405,4 +426,7 @@ class GalaxyRole(object):
 
                     break
 
+        if not isinstance(self._requirements, MutableSequence):
+            raise AnsibleParserError(f"Expected role dependencies to be a list. Role {self} has meta/requirements.yml {self._requirements}")
+
         return self._requirements
diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/role/metadata.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/role/metadata.py
index eac71ee4e39..edcbc661710 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/role/metadata.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/role/metadata.py
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ class RoleMetadata(Base, CollectionSearch):
                 raise AnsibleParserError("Expected role dependencies to be a list.", obj=self._ds)
 
             for role_def in ds:
+                # FIXME: consolidate with ansible-galaxy to keep this in sync
                 if isinstance(role_def, string_types) or 'role' in role_def or 'name' in role_def:
                     roles.append(role_def)
                     continue
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy/runme.sh
index 4bb459588ad..4005531a712 100755
--- a/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy/runme.sh
+++ b/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy/runme.sh
@@ -194,6 +194,70 @@ popd # ${galaxy_testdir}
 rm -fr "${galaxy_testdir}"
 rm -fr "${HOME}/.ansible/roles/${galaxy_local_test_role}"
 
+# Galaxy install test case (expected failure)
+#
+# Install role with a meta/requirements.yml that is not a list of roles
+mkdir -p "${role_testdir}"
+pushd "${role_testdir}"
+
+    ansible-galaxy role init --init-path . unsupported_requirements_format
+    cat <<EOF > ./unsupported_requirements_format/meta/requirements.yml
+roles:
+  - src: git+file:///${galaxy_local_test_role_git_repo}
+EOF
+    tar czvf unsupported_requirements_format.tar.gz unsupported_requirements_format
+
+    set +e
+    ansible-galaxy role install -p ./roles unsupported_requirements_format.tar.gz 2>&1 | tee out.txt
+    rc="$?"
+    set -e
+
+    # Test that installing the role was an error
+    [[ ! "$rc" == 0 ]]
+    grep out.txt -qe 'Expected role dependencies to be a list.'
+
+    # Test that the role was not installed to the expected directory
+    [[ ! -d "${HOME}/.ansible/roles/unsupported_requirements_format" ]]
+
+popd # ${role_testdir}
+rm -rf "${role_testdir}"
+
+# Galaxy install test case (expected failure)
+#
+# Install role with meta/main.yml dependencies that is not a list of roles
+mkdir -p "${role_testdir}"
+pushd "${role_testdir}"
+
+    ansible-galaxy role init --init-path . unsupported_requirements_format
+    cat <<EOF > ./unsupported_requirements_format/meta/main.yml
+galaxy_info:
+  author: Ansible
+  description: test unknown dependency format (expected failure)
+  company: your company (optional)
+  license: license (GPL-2.0-or-later, MIT, etc)
+  min_ansible_version: 2.1
+  galaxy_tags: []
+dependencies:
+  roles:
+    - src: git+file:///${galaxy_local_test_role_git_repo}
+EOF
+    tar czvf unsupported_requirements_format.tar.gz unsupported_requirements_format
+
+    set +e
+    ansible-galaxy role install -p ./roles unsupported_requirements_format.tar.gz 2>&1 | tee out.txt
+    rc="$?"
+    set -e
+
+    # Test that installing the role was an error
+    [[ ! "$rc" == 0 ]]
+    grep out.txt -qe 'Expected role dependencies to be a list.'
+
+    # Test that the role was not installed to the expected directory
+    [[ ! -d "${HOME}/.ansible/roles/unsupported_requirements_format" ]]
+
+popd # ${role_testdir}
+rm -rf "${role_testdir}"
+
 # Galaxy install test case
 #
 # Ensure that if both a role_file and role_path is provided, they are both