diff --git a/publish.py b/publish.py
index bd398cb59..a3b83914f 100755
--- a/publish.py
+++ b/publish.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import sys
 import tempfile
 import time
 from contextlib import suppress
-from typing import cast
 
 import requests
 
@@ -26,11 +25,10 @@ docs_dir = os.path.abspath('docs')
 publish_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.join('..', 'kovidgoyal.github.io', 'kitty'))
 with open('kitty/constants.py') as f:
     raw = f.read()
-nv = cast(re.Match, re.search(
-    r'^version\s+=\s+\((\d+), (\d+), (\d+)\)', raw, flags=re.MULTILINE))
-version = '%s.%s.%s' % (nv.group(1), nv.group(2), nv.group(3))
-appname = cast(re.Match, re.search(
-    r"^appname\s+=\s+'([^']+)'", raw, flags=re.MULTILINE)).group(1)
+nv = re.search(r'^version\s+=\s+\((\d+), (\d+), (\d+)\)', raw, flags=re.MULTILINE)
+if nv is not None:
+    version = '%s.%s.%s' % (nv.group(1), nv.group(2), nv.group(3))
+appname = re.search(r"^appname\s+=\s+'([^']+)'", raw, flags=re.MULTILINE).group(1)  # type: ignore
 
 ALL_ACTIONS = 'man html build tag sdist upload website'.split()
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 60be8e73c..0d74b7839 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ from functools import partial
 from collections import namedtuple
 from contextlib import suppress
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import cast
 
 base = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 sys.path.insert(0, 'glfw')
@@ -30,13 +29,13 @@ build_dir = 'build'
 constants = os.path.join('kitty', 'constants.py')
 with open(constants, 'rb') as f:
     constants = f.read().decode('utf-8')
-appname = cast(re.Match, re.search(r"^appname = '([^']+)'", constants, re.MULTILINE)).group(1)
+appname = re.search(r"^appname = '([^']+)'", constants, re.MULTILINE).group(1)  # type: ignore
 version = tuple(
     map(
         int,
-        cast(re.Match, re.search(
+        re.search(  # type: ignore
             r"^version = \((\d+), (\d+), (\d+)\)", constants, re.MULTILINE
-        )).group(1, 2, 3)
+        ).group(1, 2, 3)
     )
 )
 _plat = sys.platform.lower()