diff --git a/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py b/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py
index f70eca9..dc30c65 100644
--- a/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py
+++ b/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@
 # Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
 
 version_info = (3, 9, 0)
-__version__ = ".".join(map(str, version_info)) + "dev0"
+__version__ = ".".join(map(str, version_info)) + "rc1"