diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index c0e14b73..ed376e96 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ authors = [
     { name = "Selwin Ong", email = "selwin.ong@gmail.com" },
     { name = "Vincent Driessen", email = "vincent@3rdcloud.com" },
 ]
-requires-python = ">=3.7"
+requires-python = ">=3.8"
 classifiers = [
   "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
   "Intended Audience :: Developers",
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ classifiers = [
   "Operating System :: Unix",
   "Programming Language :: Python",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
-  "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
diff --git a/rq/version.py b/rq/version.py
index 44a3256c..204a96fe 100644
--- a/rq/version.py
+++ b/rq/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-VERSION = '1.16.2'
+VERSION = '2.0.0'