diff --git a/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-2.8.0-r2.ebuild b/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-2.8.0-r2.ebuild
index 47a1a128dccda..4d865ac4ac3b3 100644
--- a/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-2.8.0-r2.ebuild
+++ b/app-emulation/qemu/qemu-2.8.0-r2.ebuild
@@ -100,7 +100,10 @@ SOFTMMU_LIB_DEPEND="${COMMON_LIB_DEPEND}
 	iscsi? ( net-libs/libiscsi )
 	jpeg? ( virtual/jpeg:0=[static-libs(+)] )
 	lzo? ( dev-libs/lzo:2[static-libs(+)] )
-	ncurses? ( sys-libs/ncurses:0=[static-libs(+)] )
+	ncurses? (
+		sys-libs/ncurses:0=[unicode]
+		sys-libs/ncurses:0=[static-libs(+)]
+	)
 	nfs? ( >=net-fs/libnfs-1.9.3[static-libs(+)] )
 	numa? ( sys-process/numactl[static-libs(+)] )
 	opengl? (