diff --git a/release-notes/unreleased/174-rollback-drain-deadline.md b/release-notes/unreleased/174-rollback-drain-deadline.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2af54c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release-notes/unreleased/174-rollback-drain-deadline.md
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Release Notes for Issue #174: Rolled-back versions keep their drain delay
+
+## Bug Fix
+
+### What Changed
+
+A version that is rolled back to — or reintroduced with an identical spec — no longer
+carries a stale removal deadline into its next rollout.
+
+When a version is superseded, the operator stamps `restate.dev/remove-version-at` on its
+ReplicaSet to schedule teardown after `spec.restate.drainDelaySeconds`. Because
+ReplicaSets and Services are named by a content hash of the pod template, rolling back to
+a previous template re-adopts that exact ReplicaSet rather than creating a new one — and
+the stamp came with it. Nothing removed it: the annotation is written under its own field
+manager, so the operator's other patches cannot prune it, and the cleanup pass skips
+whichever version is currently latest.
+
+The next time that version was superseded, its deadline had already passed, so it was
+scaled to zero on the first reconcile instead of being given its drain window.
+
+The operator now clears the annotation when it re-adopts a ReplicaSet as the latest
+version.
+
+### Why This Matters
+
+The drain delay exists so that invocations already pinned to a version can finish on it.
+A version that skipped the delay was scaled to zero while that work was still in flight,
+which surfaces as invocations retrying against a version with no pods behind it until they
+are re-pinned or time out.
+
+The window for this was narrow but not exotic: it needed a rollback (or a re-applied
+identical spec) followed by another rollout, which is the ordinary shape of "revert, fix
+forward".
+
+### Impact on Users
+
+- **Existing deployments:** no configuration change. A ReplicaSet currently holding a
+  stale deadline has it cleared the next time it is reconciled as the latest version.
+- **New deployments:** no impact.
+- Rollback followed by a further rollout now takes `drainDelaySeconds` longer to tear the
+  intermediate version down — that delay is the fix, not a regression.
+
+### Migration Guidance
+
+None required.
+
+### Related Issues
+
+- Issue #174: Support rolling RestateDeployments back to a previously registered revision
diff --git a/src/controllers/restatedeployment/controller.rs b/src/controllers/restatedeployment/controller.rs
index 3e58dc5..f99770a 100644
--- a/src/controllers/restatedeployment/controller.rs
+++ b/src/controllers/restatedeployment/controller.rs
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ use crate::controllers::restatedeployment::cleanup::{
 use crate::controllers::restatedeployment::reconcilers;
 
 use super::reconcilers::replicaset::{
-    POD_TEMPLATE_HASH_LABEL, RESTATE_POD_TEMPLATE_ANNOTATION, RESTATE_TUNNEL_NAME_ANNOTATION,
+    POD_TEMPLATE_HASH_LABEL, RESTATE_POD_TEMPLATE_ANNOTATION, RESTATE_REMOVE_VERSION_AT_ANNOTATION,
+    RESTATE_TUNNEL_NAME_ANNOTATION,
 };
 
 pub(super) const RESTATE_DEPLOYMENT_ID_ANNOTATION: &str = "restate.dev/deployment-id";
@@ -397,6 +398,38 @@ impl RestateDeployment {
                         )
                         .await?;
 
+                    // A ReplicaSet re-adopted here was previously superseded, so it may still
+                    // carry the removal deadline cleanup stamped on it while it drained. Nothing
+                    // else clears it: the patch above is a different field manager (so server-side
+                    // apply won't prune it), and `cleanup_old_replicasets` skips the current
+                    // version via `except_rs`. Left in place, a deadline that has already passed
+                    // makes the *next* rollout tear this version down immediately instead of
+                    // giving it drainDelaySeconds.
+                    if existing_replicaset
+                        .annotations()
+                        .contains_key(RESTATE_REMOVE_VERSION_AT_ANNOTATION)
+                    {
+                        debug!(
+                            "Unscheduling removal of re-adopted ReplicaSet {versioned_name} in namespace {namespace}",
+                        );
+
+                        rs_api
+                            .patch_metadata(
+                                &versioned_name,
+                                &PatchParams::apply("restate-operator/remove-version-at").force(),
+                                &Patch::Apply(serde_json::json!({
+                                    "apiVersion": ReplicaSet::api_version(&()),
+                                    "kind": ReplicaSet::kind(&()),
+                                    "metadata": {
+                                        "annotations": {
+                                            RESTATE_REMOVE_VERSION_AT_ANNOTATION: null,
+                                        }
+                                    }
+                                })),
+                            )
+                            .await?;
+                    }
+
                     existing_replicaset
                 } else {
                     debug!(