diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py
index 772db5cf5a..7435dba04b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/free.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ from ansible.playbook.included_file import IncludedFile
 from ansible.plugins import action_loader
 from ansible.plugins.strategy import StrategyBase
 from ansible.template import Templar
-from ansible.compat.six import text_type
+from ansible.utils.unicode import to_unicode
 
 try:
     from __main__ import display
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ class StrategyModule(StrategyBase):
                         display.debug("done getting variables")
 
                         try:
-                            task.name = text_type(templar.template(task.name, fail_on_undefined=False))
+                            task.name = to_unicode(templar.template(task.name, fail_on_undefined=False), nonstring='empty')
                             display.debug("done templating")
                         except:
                             # just ignore any errors during task name templating,
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py
index fe5dbef67c..3f273606e2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/strategy/linear.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 __metaclass__ = type
 
-from ansible.compat.six import iteritems, text_type
+from ansible.compat.six import iteritems
 
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
 from ansible.executor.play_iterator import PlayIterator
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ class StrategyModule(StrategyBase):
                             saved_name = task.name
                             display.debug("done copying, going to template now")
                             try:
-                                task.name = text_type(templar.template(task.name, fail_on_undefined=False))
+                                task.name = to_unicode(templar.template(task.name, fail_on_undefined=False), nonstring='empty')
                                 display.debug("done templating")
                             except:
                                 # just ignore any errors during task name templating,