diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 5c6cc311fd..122c71e917 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -83,20 +83,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
           allow-prereleases: true
-        # Workaround for actions/setup-python#981 on macos
-        # Workaround for https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/5143 on windows
-        # (env var only modified for this specific step)
-        env:
-          SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS: >-
-            ${{
-              (
-                ( matrix.platform == 'macos-latest' || matrix.platform == 'windows-latest' )
-                && matrix.python == '3.9'
-                && 'stdlib'
-              )
-              || matrix.distutils
-              || 'local'
-            }}
       - uses: actions/cache@v4
         id: cache
         with:
diff --git a/mypy.ini b/mypy.ini
index 979e5af00c..9bf8ed4e46 100644
--- a/mypy.ini
+++ b/mypy.ini
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ disable_error_code =
 
 # CI should test for all versions, local development gets hints for oldest supported
 # But our testing setup doesn't allow passing CLI arguments, so local devs have to set this manually.
-# python_version = 3.9
+# python_version = 3.X
 
 exclude = (?x)(
 	# Avoid scanning Python files in generated folders
diff --git a/newsfragments/5222.feature.rst b/newsfragments/5222.feature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0edcda9cb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/newsfragments/5222.feature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Dropped dependency on :pypi:`importlib_metadata` -- by :user:`Avasam`
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index bbfa0dd0ca..ca931b5d9d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ test = [
 	"pytest-timeout",
 	'pytest-perf; sys_platform != "cygwin"', # workaround for jaraco/inflect#195, pydantic/pydantic-core#773 (see #3986)
 	# for tools/finalize.py
-	'jaraco.develop >= 7.21; python_version >= "3.9" and sys_platform != "cygwin"',
+	'jaraco.develop >= 7.21; sys_platform != "cygwin"',
 	"pytest-home >= 0.5",
 	"pytest-subprocess",
 
@@ -98,7 +98,6 @@ core = [
 	"packaging>=24.2",
 	"more_itertools>=8.8",
 	"jaraco.text>=3.7",
-	"importlib_metadata>=6; python_version < '3.10'",
 	"tomli>=2.0.1; python_version < '3.11'",
 	"wheel>=0.43.0",
 
diff --git a/pyrightconfig.json b/pyrightconfig.json
index da3cd978ce..f5961f47c2 100644
--- a/pyrightconfig.json
+++ b/pyrightconfig.json
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 		"setuptools/_distutils",
 	],
 	// Our testing setup doesn't allow passing CLI arguments, so local devs have to set this manually.
-	// "pythonVersion": "3.9",
+	// "pythonVersion": "3.X",
 	// For now we don't mind if mypy's `type: ignore` comments accidentally suppresses pyright issues
 	"enableTypeIgnoreComments": true,
 	"typeCheckingMode": "basic",
diff --git a/setuptools/dist.py b/setuptools/dist.py
index e600404198..534596d869 100644
--- a/setuptools/dist.py
+++ b/setuptools/dist.py
@@ -60,8 +60,6 @@
 for use with `isinstance`.
 """
 _Sequence: TypeAlias = tuple[str, ...] | list[str]
-# This is how stringifying _Sequence would look in Python 3.10
-_sequence_type_repr = "tuple[str, ...] | list[str]"
 _OrderedStrSequence: TypeAlias = str | dict[str, Any] | Sequence[str]
 """
 :meta private:
@@ -101,7 +99,7 @@ def assert_string_list(dist, attr: str, value: _Sequence) -> None:
         assert ''.join(value) != value
     except (TypeError, ValueError, AttributeError, AssertionError) as e:
         raise DistutilsSetupError(
-            f"{attr!r} must be of type <{_sequence_type_repr}> (got {value!r})"
+            f"{attr!r} must be of type <{_Sequence}> (got {value!r})"
         ) from e
 
 
@@ -926,7 +924,7 @@ def _exclude_misc(self, name: str, value: _Sequence) -> None:
         """Handle 'exclude()' for list/tuple attrs without a special handler"""
         if not isinstance(value, _sequence):
             raise DistutilsSetupError(
-                f"{name}: setting must be of type <{_sequence_type_repr}> (got {value!r})"
+                f"{name}: setting must be of type <{_Sequence}> (got {value!r})"
             )
         try:
             old = getattr(self, name)
@@ -944,7 +942,7 @@ def _include_misc(self, name: str, value: _Sequence) -> None:
 
         if not isinstance(value, _sequence):
             raise DistutilsSetupError(
-                f"{name}: setting must be of type <{_sequence_type_repr}> (got {value!r})"
+                f"{name}: setting must be of type <{_Sequence}> (got {value!r})"
             )
         try:
             old = getattr(self, name)
@@ -986,7 +984,7 @@ def exclude(self, **attrs) -> None:
     def _exclude_packages(self, packages: _Sequence) -> None:
         if not isinstance(packages, _sequence):
             raise DistutilsSetupError(
-                f"packages: setting must be of type <{_sequence_type_repr}> (got {packages!r})"
+                f"packages: setting must be of type <{_Sequence}> (got {packages!r})"
             )
         list(map(self.exclude_package, packages))