diff --git a/lib/command.ts b/lib/command.ts
index 08b85a604..866eb5324 100644
--- a/lib/command.ts
+++ b/lib/command.ts
@@ -224,29 +224,27 @@ export class CommandInstance {
       helpOnly,
       helpOrVersionSet
     );
-    if (isPromise(builderResult)) {
-      return builderResult.then(result => {
-        return this.applyMiddlewareAndGetResult(
+    return isPromise(builderResult)
+      ? builderResult.then(result =>
+          this.applyMiddlewareAndGetResult(
+            isDefaultCommand,
+            commandHandler,
+            result.innerArgv,
+            currentContext,
+            helpOnly,
+            result.aliases,
+            yargs
+          )
+        )
+      : this.applyMiddlewareAndGetResult(
           isDefaultCommand,
           commandHandler,
-          result.innerArgv,
+          builderResult.innerArgv,
           currentContext,
           helpOnly,
-          result.aliases,
+          builderResult.aliases,
           yargs
         );
-      });
-    } else {
-      return this.applyMiddlewareAndGetResult(
-        isDefaultCommand,
-        commandHandler,
-        builderResult.innerArgv,
-        currentContext,
-        helpOnly,
-        builderResult.aliases,
-        yargs
-      );
-    }
   }
   private applyBuilderUpdateUsageAndParse(
     isDefaultCommand: boolean,
diff --git a/lib/middleware.ts b/lib/middleware.ts
index 7cf22039d..b4af090dc 100644
--- a/lib/middleware.ts
+++ b/lib/middleware.ts
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ export class GlobalMiddleware {
   addMiddleware(
     callback: MiddlewareCallback | MiddlewareCallback[],
     applyBeforeValidation: boolean,
-    global = true
+    global = true,
+    mutates = false
   ): YargsInstance {
     argsert(
-      '<array|function> [boolean] [boolean]',
+      '<array|function> [boolean] [boolean] [boolean]',
       [callback, applyBeforeValidation, global],
       arguments.length
     );
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ export class GlobalMiddleware {
       const m = callback as Middleware;
       m.applyBeforeValidation = applyBeforeValidation;
       m.global = global;
+      m.mutates = mutates;
       this.globalMiddleware.push(callback as Middleware);
     }
     return this.yargs;
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ export class GlobalMiddleware {
       else return !toCheck.includes(m.option);
     });
     (callback as Middleware).option = option;
-    return this.addMiddleware(callback, true, true);
+    return this.addMiddleware(callback, true, true, true);
   }
   getMiddleware() {
     return this.globalMiddleware;
@@ -92,6 +94,11 @@ export function applyMiddleware(
         return acc;
       }
 
+      if (middleware.mutates) {
+        if (middleware.applied) return acc;
+        middleware.applied = true;
+      }
+
       if (isPromise(acc)) {
         return acc
           .then(initialObj =>
@@ -124,4 +131,6 @@ export interface Middleware extends MiddlewareCallback {
   applyBeforeValidation: boolean;
   global: boolean;
   option?: string;
+  mutates?: boolean;
+  applied?: boolean;
 }
diff --git a/lib/yargs-factory.ts b/lib/yargs-factory.ts
index 53da93e5e..4f602d7e8 100644
--- a/lib/yargs-factory.ts
+++ b/lib/yargs-factory.ts
@@ -1156,11 +1156,10 @@ export class YargsInstance {
       'alias',
     ];
     opts = objFilter(opts, (k, v) => {
-      let accept = supportedOpts.indexOf(k) !== -1;
       // type can be one of string|number|boolean.
-      if (k === 'type' && ['string', 'number', 'boolean'].indexOf(v) === -1)
-        accept = false;
-      return accept;
+      if (k === 'type' && !['string', 'number', 'boolean'].includes(v))
+        return false;
+      return supportedOpts.includes(k);
     });
 
     // copy over any settings that can be inferred from the command string.
diff --git a/test/command.cjs b/test/command.cjs
index fb69c0a93..fd0eefef8 100644
--- a/test/command.cjs
+++ b/test/command.cjs
@@ -1547,6 +1547,35 @@ describe('Command', () => {
             return done();
           });
       });
+
+      // addresses https://github.com/yargs/yargs/issues/1966
+      it('should not be applied multiple times for nested commands', () => {
+        let coerceExecutionCount = 0;
+
+        const argv = yargs('cmd1 cmd2 foo bar baz')
+          .command('cmd1', 'cmd1 desc', yargs =>
+            yargs.command('cmd2 <positional1> <rest...>', 'cmd2 desc', yargs =>
+              yargs
+                .positional('rest', {
+                  type: 'string',
+                  coerce: arg => {
+                    if (coerceExecutionCount) {
+                      throw Error('coerce applied multiple times');
+                    }
+                    coerceExecutionCount++;
+                    return arg.join(' ');
+                  },
+                })
+                .fail(() => {
+                  expect.fail();
+                })
+            )
+          )
+          .parse();
+
+        argv.rest.should.equal('bar baz');
+        coerceExecutionCount.should.equal(1);
+      });
     });
 
     describe('defaults', () => {