diff --git a/context.go b/context.go
index e99bbcb..7e4979c 100644
--- a/context.go
+++ b/context.go
@@ -1548,6 +1548,11 @@ func (c *Context) addDependency(module *moduleInfo, tag DependencyTag, depName s
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	if c.allowMissingDependencies {
+		// Allow missing variants.
+		return c.discoveredMissingDependencies(module, depName+c.prettyPrintVariant(module.dependencyVariant))
+	}
+
 	return []error{&BlueprintError{
 		Err: fmt.Errorf("dependency %q of %q missing variant:\n  %s\navailable variants:\n  %s",
 			depName, module.Name(),
@@ -1578,6 +1583,11 @@ func (c *Context) findReverseDependency(module *moduleInfo, destName string) (*m
 		return m, nil
 	}
 
+	if c.allowMissingDependencies {
+		// Allow missing variants.
+		return module, c.discoveredMissingDependencies(module, destName+c.prettyPrintVariant(module.dependencyVariant))
+	}
+
 	return nil, []error{&BlueprintError{
 		Err: fmt.Errorf("reverse dependency %q of %q missing variant:\n  %s\navailable variants:\n  %s",
 			destName, module.Name(),
@@ -1638,6 +1648,10 @@ func (c *Context) addVariationDependency(module *moduleInfo, variations []Variat
 	}
 
 	if foundDep == nil {
+		if c.allowMissingDependencies {
+			// Allow missing variants.
+			return c.discoveredMissingDependencies(module, depName+c.prettyPrintVariant(newVariant))
+		}
 		return []error{&BlueprintError{
 			Err: fmt.Errorf("dependency %q of %q missing variant:\n  %s\navailable variants:\n  %s",
 				depName, module.Name(),