diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
index 02ecf8d25b1e..4dc95d9e1fd7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ in with passthru; stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   CPPFLAGS = concatStringsSep " " (map (p: "-I${getDev p}/include") buildInputs);
   LDFLAGS = concatStringsSep " " (map (p: "-L${getLib p}/lib") buildInputs);
-  LIBS = "${optionalString (!stdenv.isDarwin) "-lcrypt"} ${optionalString (ncurses != null) "-lncurses"}";
+  LIBS = "${optionalString (!stdenv.isDarwin) "-lcrypt"}";
   NIX_LDFLAGS = lib.optionalString stdenv.cc.isGNU ({
     "glibc" = "-lgcc_s";
     "musl" = "-lgcc_eh";