diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/local_popen_text.yml b/changelogs/fragments/local_popen_text.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..76053d2cdf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/local_popen_text.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - local connection plugin - The command-line used to create subprocesses is now always ``str`` to avoid issues with debuggers and profilers.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py
index 934ef52738c..af5e8d66d00 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py
@@ -101,9 +101,9 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
         display.debug("opening command with Popen()")
 
         if isinstance(cmd, (text_type, binary_type)):
-            cmd = to_bytes(cmd)
+            cmd = to_text(cmd)
         else:
-            cmd = map(to_bytes, cmd)
+            cmd = map(to_text, cmd)
 
         pty_primary = None
         stdin = subprocess.PIPE