diff --git a/src/dbus_fast/unpack.pxd b/src/dbus_fast/unpack.pxd
index 5fa9e8dc..55ebef1b 100644
--- a/src/dbus_fast/unpack.pxd
+++ b/src/dbus_fast/unpack.pxd
@@ -2,9 +2,12 @@
 
 import cython
 
+from .signature cimport Variant
 
-cdef object Variant
 
 cpdef unpack_variants(object data)
 
+@cython.locals(
+    var=Variant
+)
 cdef _unpack_variants(object data)
diff --git a/src/dbus_fast/unpack.py b/src/dbus_fast/unpack.py
index 135a747d..9680ff34 100644
--- a/src/dbus_fast/unpack.py
+++ b/src/dbus_fast/unpack.py
@@ -19,5 +19,6 @@ def _unpack_variants(data: Any) -> Any:
     if type(data) is list:
         return [_unpack_variants(item) for item in data]
     if type(data) is Variant:
-        return _unpack_variants(data.value)
+        var = data
+        return _unpack_variants(var.value)
     return data