diff --git a/src/resources/pandoc/datadir/_utils.lua b/src/resources/pandoc/datadir/_utils.lua
index 18916d9d94..df338e7e31 100644
--- a/src/resources/pandoc/datadir/_utils.lua
+++ b/src/resources/pandoc/datadir/_utils.lua
@@ -265,7 +265,11 @@ local function as_inlines(v)
   end
 
   if type(v) == "table" then
-    return pandoc.utils.blocks_to_inlines(v)
+    local result = pandoc.Inlines({})
+    for i, v in ipairs(v) do
+      tappend(result, as_inlines(v))
+    end
+    return result
   end
 
   -- luacov: disable