diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4918b93b3bb..51060a191dd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 #### Improvements
 * Fix #4355: for exec, attach, upload, and copy operations the container id/name will be validated or chosen prior to the remote call.  You may also use the kubectl.kubernetes.io/default-container annotation to specify the default container.
+*  Fix #4530: generalizing the Serialization logic to allow for primitive values and clarifying the type expectations.
 
 #### Dependency Upgrade
 
diff --git a/kubernetes-client-api/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/Serialization.java b/kubernetes-client-api/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/Serialization.java
index 2bd954316fb..a5ffeb936b5 100644
--- a/kubernetes-client-api/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/Serialization.java
+++ b/kubernetes-client-api/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/Serialization.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.YAMLGenerator;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype.jsr310.JavaTimeModule;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.KubernetesResource;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.runtime.RawExtension;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClientException;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.model.jackson.UnmatchedFieldTypeModule;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.DumperOptions;
@@ -158,6 +159,8 @@ public static <T> String asYaml(T object) {
 
   /**
    * Unmarshals a stream.
+   * <p>
+   * The type is assumed to be {@link KubernetesResource}
    *
    * @param is The {@link InputStream}.
    * @param <T> The target type.
@@ -170,6 +173,8 @@ public static <T> T unmarshal(InputStream is) {
 
   /**
    * Unmarshals a stream optionally performing placeholder substitution to the stream.
+   * <p>
+   * The type is assumed to be {@link KubernetesResource}
    *
    * @param is The {@link InputStream}.
    * @param parameters A {@link Map} with parameters for placeholder substitution.
@@ -190,6 +195,8 @@ public static <T> T unmarshal(InputStream is, Map<String, String> parameters) {
 
   /**
    * Unmarshals a stream.
+   * <p>
+   * The type is assumed to be {@link KubernetesResource}
    *
    * @param is The {@link InputStream}.
    * @param mapper The {@link ObjectMapper} to use.
@@ -202,6 +209,8 @@ public static <T> T unmarshal(InputStream is, ObjectMapper mapper) {
 
   /**
    * Unmarshals a stream optionally performing placeholder substitution to the stream.
+   * <p>
+   * The type is assumed to be {@link KubernetesResource}
    *
    * @param is The {@link InputStream}.
    * @param mapper The {@link ObjectMapper} to use.
@@ -231,11 +240,15 @@ private static <T> T unmarshal(InputStream is, ObjectMapper mapper, TypeReferenc
       bis.reset();
 
       final T result;
-      if (intch != '{') {
+      if (intch != '{' && intch != '[') {
         final Yaml yaml = new Yaml(new SafeConstructor(), new Representer(), new DumperOptions(),
             new CustomYamlTagResolverWithLimit());
-        final Map<String, Object> obj = yaml.load(bis);
-        result = mapper.convertValue(obj, type);
+        final Object obj = yaml.load(bis);
+        if (obj instanceof Map) {
+          result = mapper.convertValue(obj, type);
+        } else {
+          result = mapper.convertValue(new RawExtension(obj), type);
+        }
       } else {
         result = mapper.readerFor(type).readValue(bis);
       }
@@ -247,6 +260,8 @@ private static <T> T unmarshal(InputStream is, ObjectMapper mapper, TypeReferenc
 
   /**
    * Unmarshals a {@link String}
+   * <p>
+   * The type is assumed to be {@link KubernetesResource}
    *
    * @param str The {@link String}.
    * @param <T> template argument denoting type
diff --git a/kubernetes-client-api/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/SerializationTest.java b/kubernetes-client-api/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/SerializationTest.java
index dac7aba48a4..49e68a1f8f2 100644
--- a/kubernetes-client-api/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/SerializationTest.java
+++ b/kubernetes-client-api/src/test/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/client/utils/SerializationTest.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.coordination.v1.LeaseSpec;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.runtime.RawExtension;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.CustomResource;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClientException;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.model.annotation.Group;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.model.annotation.Version;
 import org.assertj.core.api.InstanceOfAssertFactories;
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
@@ -235,15 +237,37 @@ void unmarshalWithValidCustomResourceShouldReturnGenericCustomResource() {
   }
 
   @Test
-  @DisplayName("unmarshal, with invalid YAML content, should throw Exception")
   void unmarshalWithInvalidYamlShouldThrowException() {
     // Given
     final InputStream is = SerializationTest.class.getResourceAsStream("/serialization/invalid-yaml.yml");
     // When
-    final ClassCastException result = assertThrows(ClassCastException.class, () -> Serialization.unmarshal(is));
+    RawExtension result = Serialization.unmarshal(is);
     // Then
-    assertThat(result)
-        .hasMessageContainingAll("java.lang.String", "cannot be cast to", "java.util.Map");
+    assertEquals("This\nis not\nYAML", result.getValue());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void unmarshalArrays() {
+    // not valid as KubernetesResource - we'd have to look ahead to know if the array values
+    // were not hasmetadata
+    assertThrows(KubernetesClientException.class, () -> Serialization.unmarshal("[1, 2]"));
+    assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> Serialization.unmarshal("- 1\n- 2"));
+
+    assertEquals(Arrays.asList(1, 2), Serialization.unmarshal("[1, 2]", List.class));
+    assertEquals(Arrays.asList(1, 2), Serialization.unmarshal("- 1\n- 2", List.class));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void unmarshalPrimitives() {
+    // as json
+    RawExtension raw = Serialization.unmarshal("\"a\"");
+    assertEquals("a", raw.getValue());
+    // as yaml
+    raw = Serialization.unmarshal("a");
+    assertEquals("a", raw.getValue());
+
+    assertEquals("a", Serialization.unmarshal("\"a\"", String.class));
+    assertEquals("a", Serialization.unmarshal("a", String.class));
   }
 
   @Test
diff --git a/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/api/model/runtime/RawExtension.java b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/api/model/runtime/RawExtension.java
index 2f1aa79ce61..cd86f06bcd5 100644
--- a/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/api/model/runtime/RawExtension.java
+++ b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/api/model/runtime/RawExtension.java
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.AnyType;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.KubernetesResource;
 import io.sundr.builder.annotations.Buildable;
+import lombok.ToString;
 
+@ToString(callSuper = true)
 @JsonDeserialize(using = com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonDeserializer.None.class)
 @Buildable(editableEnabled = false, validationEnabled = false, generateBuilderPackage = true, lazyCollectionInitEnabled = false, builderPackage = "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.builder")
 public class RawExtension extends AnyType implements KubernetesResource {
diff --git a/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/internal/KubernetesDeserializer.java b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/internal/KubernetesDeserializer.java
index f2c29f77780..3417e3296e7 100644
--- a/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/internal/KubernetesDeserializer.java
+++ b/kubernetes-model-generator/kubernetes-model-core/src/main/java/io/fabric8/kubernetes/internal/KubernetesDeserializer.java
@@ -89,9 +89,12 @@ public KubernetesResource deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt
       return fromObjectNode(jp, node);
     } else if (node.isArray()) {
       return fromArrayNode(jp, node);
-    } else {
+    }
+    Object object = node.traverse(jp.getCodec()).readValueAs(Object.class);
+    if (object == null) {
       return null;
     }
+    return new RawExtension(object);
   }
 
   private KubernetesResource fromArrayNode(JsonParser jp, JsonNode node) throws IOException {
@@ -105,6 +108,8 @@ private KubernetesResource fromArrayNode(JsonParser jp, JsonNode node) throws IO
           throw new JsonMappingException(jp, "Cannot parse a nested array containing a non-HasMetadata resource");
         }
         list.add((HasMetadata) resource);
+      } else {
+        throw new JsonMappingException(jp, "Cannot parse a nested array containing non-object resource");
       }
     }
     return new KubernetesListBuilder().withItems(list).build();