diff --git a/lib/explorer/backend/series.ex b/lib/explorer/backend/series.ex
index 90ddf6f1f..64f8e9e31 100644
--- a/lib/explorer/backend/series.ex
+++ b/lib/explorer/backend/series.ex
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ defmodule Explorer.Backend.Series do
 
   # Struct
   @callback field(s, String.t()) :: s
-  @callback json_decode(s, dtype() | nil, non_neg_integer() | nil) :: s
+  @callback json_decode(s, option(dtype()), option(non_neg_integer())) :: s
 
   # Functions
 
diff --git a/lib/explorer/polars_backend/shared.ex b/lib/explorer/polars_backend/shared.ex
index 56c2df183..d426acb28 100644
--- a/lib/explorer/polars_backend/shared.ex
+++ b/lib/explorer/polars_backend/shared.ex
@@ -42,36 +42,55 @@ defmodule Explorer.PolarsBackend.Shared do
   def apply_dataframe(%DataFrame{} = df, %DataFrame{} = out_df, fun, args) do
     case apply(Native, fun, [df.data | args]) do
       {:ok, %module{} = new_df} when module in @polars_df ->
-        if @check_frames do
-          # We need to collect here, because the lazy frame may not have
-          # the full picture of the result yet.
-          check_df =
-            if match?(%PolarsLazyFrame{}, new_df) do
-              {:ok, new_df} = Native.lf_collect(new_df)
-              create_dataframe(new_df)
-            else
-              create_dataframe(new_df)
+        {struct?, dtypes} =
+          if @check_frames do
+            # We need to collect here, because the lazy frame may not have
+            # the full picture of the result yet.
+            check_df =
+              if match?(%PolarsLazyFrame{}, new_df) do
+                {:ok, new_df} = Native.lf_collect(new_df)
+                create_dataframe(new_df)
+              else
+                create_dataframe(new_df)
+              end
+
+            # When dealing with structs in mutate, we may not know dtype of struct series.
+            # We have to accept the dtype returned by polars, else we will have mismatch error.
+            {struct?, out_dtypes} =
+              if fun == :df_mutate_with_exprs do
+                Enum.reduce(check_df.dtypes, {false, out_df.dtypes}, fn
+                  {key, {:struct, _} = dtype}, {_, dtypes} -> {true, Map.put(dtypes, key, dtype)}
+                  _, acc -> acc
+                end)
+              else
+                {false, out_df.dtypes}
+              end
+
+            if Enum.sort(out_df.names) != Enum.sort(check_df.names) or
+                 out_dtypes != check_df.dtypes do
+              raise """
+              DataFrame mismatch.
+
+              expected:
+
+                  names: #{inspect(out_df.names)}
+                  dtypes: #{inspect(out_df.dtypes)}
+
+              got:
+
+                  names: #{inspect(check_df.names)}
+                  dtypes: #{inspect(check_df.dtypes)}
+              """
             end
 
-          if Enum.sort(out_df.names) != Enum.sort(check_df.names) or
-               out_df.dtypes != check_df.dtypes do
-            raise """
-            DataFrame mismatch.
-
-            expected:
-
-                names: #{inspect(out_df.names)}
-                dtypes: #{inspect(out_df.dtypes)}
-
-            got:
-
-                names: #{inspect(check_df.names)}
-                dtypes: #{inspect(check_df.dtypes)}
-            """
+            {struct?, out_dtypes}
           end
-        end
 
-        %{out_df | data: new_df}
+        if struct? do
+          %{out_df | data: new_df, dtypes: dtypes}
+        else
+          %{out_df | data: new_df}
+        end
 
       {:error, error} ->
         raise runtime_error(error)
diff --git a/lib/explorer/series.ex b/lib/explorer/series.ex
index 8c8da30c6..0b1bdd379 100644
--- a/lib/explorer/series.ex
+++ b/lib/explorer/series.ex
@@ -6044,7 +6044,7 @@ defmodule Explorer.Series do
   end
 
   @doc """
-  Decode json from string
+  Decode json from string.
 
   ## Examples
 
@@ -6054,6 +6054,8 @@ defmodule Explorer.Series do
         Polars[1]
         struct[1] [%{"a" => 1}]
       >
+
+  Will raise `RuntimeError` for invalid json.
   """
   @doc type: :struct_wise
   @spec json_decode(Series.t(), Keyword.t()) :: Series.t()
diff --git a/native/explorer/src/expressions.rs b/native/explorer/src/expressions.rs
index 3d51a5d7f..1acd3e460 100644
--- a/native/explorer/src/expressions.rs
+++ b/native/explorer/src/expressions.rs
@@ -1072,7 +1072,7 @@ pub fn expr_json_decode(
     ex_dtype: Option<ExSeriesDtype>,
     infer_schema_length: Option<usize>,
 ) -> ExExpr {
-    let dtype = ex_dtype.map(|x| DataType::try_from(&x).unwrap()); //DataType::try_from().unwrap();
+    let dtype = ex_dtype.map(|x| DataType::try_from(&x).unwrap());
     let expr = expr
         .clone_inner()
         .str()
diff --git a/test/explorer/data_frame_test.exs b/test/explorer/data_frame_test.exs
index b08997c54..4fdaa773c 100644
--- a/test/explorer/data_frame_test.exs
+++ b/test/explorer/data_frame_test.exs
@@ -1870,6 +1870,32 @@ defmodule Explorer.DataFrameTest do
                member?: [true, false]
              }
     end
+
+    test "extracts struct from json - json_decode" do
+      df = DF.new([%{a: "{\"n\": 1}"}])
+      dfj = DF.mutate(df, aj: json_decode(a, dtype: {:struct, %{"n" => {:s, 64}}}))
+      assert dfj.dtypes == %{"a" => :string, "aj" => {:struct, %{"n" => {:s, 64}}}}
+      assert DF.to_rows(dfj) == [%{"a" => "{\"n\": 1}", "aj" => %{"n" => 1}}]
+    end
+
+    test "extracts struct from json - json_decode with dtype" do
+      df = DF.new([%{a: "{\"n\": 1}"}])
+      dfj = DF.mutate(df, aj: json_decode(a, dtype: {:struct, %{"n" => {:f, 64}}}))
+      assert dfj.dtypes == %{"a" => :string, "aj" => {:struct, %{"n" => {:f, 64}}}}
+      assert DF.to_rows(dfj) == [%{"a" => "{\"n\": 1}", "aj" => %{"n" => 1.0}}]
+    end
+
+    test "extracts struct from json - json_decode with infer_schema_length" do
+      df = DF.new([%{a: "{\"n\": 1}"}])
+
+      dfj =
+        DF.mutate(df,
+          aj: json_decode(a, infer_schema_length: 100)
+        )
+
+      assert dfj.dtypes == %{"a" => :string, "aj" => {:struct, %{"n" => {:s, 64}}}}
+      assert DF.to_rows(dfj) == [%{"a" => "{\"n\": 1}", "aj" => %{"n" => 1}}]
+    end
   end
 
   describe "sort_by/3" do