diff --git a/easybuild/easyconfigs/m/matplotlib/matplotlib-3.9.2-gfbf-2024a.eb b/easybuild/easyconfigs/m/matplotlib/matplotlib-3.9.2-gfbf-2024a.eb
index 33ddf00eb934..366dbde8a758 100644
--- a/easybuild/easyconfigs/m/matplotlib/matplotlib-3.9.2-gfbf-2024a.eb
+++ b/easybuild/easyconfigs/m/matplotlib/matplotlib-3.9.2-gfbf-2024a.eb
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ builddependencies = [
     ('pkgconf', '2.2.0'),
     ('cppy', '1.2.1'),
     ('meson-python', '0.16.0'),
+    ('pybind11', '2.12.0'),
 ]
 
 dependencies = [
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ exts_list = [
         ],
     }),
     (name, version, {
-        'configopts': "%(local_configopts)s",
+        'configopts': local_configopts,
         'checksums': ['96ab43906269ca64a6366934106fa01534454a69e471b7bf3d79083981aaab92'],
     }),
 ]