diff --git a/roles/build-python-release/README.rst b/roles/build-python-release/README.rst
index 3a2981c3b..452e197a8 100644
--- a/roles/build-python-release/README.rst
+++ b/roles/build-python-release/README.rst
@@ -7,3 +7,9 @@ Build sdist and wheel for Python projects.
 
    The python interpreter to use. Set it to "python3" to use python 3,
    for example.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: bdist_wheel_xargs
+   :default: ''
+
+   Extra arguments to pass to the bdist_wheel command when building
+   packages.
diff --git a/roles/build-python-release/defaults/main.yaml b/roles/build-python-release/defaults/main.yaml
index 10203cd5f..9edcde0bc 100644
--- a/roles/build-python-release/defaults/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/build-python-release/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 zuul_work_dir: "{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}"
 release_python: "python"
+bdist_wheel_xargs: ""
diff --git a/roles/build-python-release/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/build-python-release/tasks/main.yaml
index bd56cf798..fe8369e56 100644
--- a/roles/build-python-release/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/build-python-release/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 - name: Build a tarball and wheel
-  command: "{{release_python}} setup.py sdist bdist_wheel"
+  command: "{{release_python}} setup.py sdist bdist_wheel {{bdist_wheel_xargs}}"
   args:
     chdir: "{{ zuul_work_dir }}"