cast string to array php

cast string to array php

I have a PHP array, but when I var_dump($array) it returns it as a string.
array(1) {
[0]=>
string(1874) "array(
I tried to do var_dump( (array) $array), but that returns the same array
as a string again, except this string is now in a single array value.
Any idea on how I can turn this "array" into an actual array?
Thanks!