diff --git a/scripts/populate_tox/README.md b/scripts/populate_tox/README.md
index aa9884387e..6742ce2d4a 100644
--- a/scripts/populate_tox/README.md
+++ b/scripts/populate_tox/README.md
@@ -44,10 +44,16 @@ integration_name: {
          rule1: [package1, package2, ...],
          rule2: [package3, package4, ...],
      },
-     "python": python_version_specifier,
+     "python": version_specifier,
+     "ignore": version_specifier,
 }
 ```
 
+When talking about version specifiers, we mean
+[version specifiers as defined](https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/specifications/version-specifiers/#id5)
+by the Python Packaging Authority. See also the actual implementation
+in `[packaging.specifiers](https://packaging.pypa.io/en/stable/specifiers.html)`.
+
 ### `package`
 
 The name of the third party package as it's listed on PyPI. The script will
@@ -118,6 +124,22 @@ metadata or the SDK is explicitly not supporting some packages on specific
 Python versions (because of, for example, broken context vars), the `python`
 key can be used.
 
+### `ignore`
+
+Sometimes there are versions of packages that we explicitly don't want to test.
+One example is Starlite, which has two alpha prereleases of version 2.0.0, but
+there will never will be a stable 2.0 release, since development on Starlite
+has stopped and Starlite 2.0 eventually became Litestar.
+
+The value of the `ignore` key expects a version specifier defining which
+versions should not be considered for testing.
+
+```python
+"starlite": {
+    "ignore": ">=2.0",
+    ...
+}
+```
 
 ## How-Tos
 
diff --git a/scripts/populate_tox/config.py b/scripts/populate_tox/config.py
index 2c2920e7ac..f82233eef9 100644
--- a/scripts/populate_tox/config.py
+++ b/scripts/populate_tox/config.py
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@
             ],
         },
         "python": "<=3.11",
+        "ignore": "==2.0.0a1,==2.0.0a2",  # the project ultimately renamed itself to litestar and these are not relevant as there will never be a stable 2.0 release
     },
     "statsig": {
         "package": "statsig",
diff --git a/scripts/populate_tox/populate_tox.py b/scripts/populate_tox/populate_tox.py
index 3298b612c3..64e1b49e8b 100644
--- a/scripts/populate_tox/populate_tox.py
+++ b/scripts/populate_tox/populate_tox.py
@@ -130,6 +130,12 @@ def _prefilter_releases(
             f"  {integration} doesn't have a minimum version defined in sentry_sdk/integrations/__init__.py. Consider defining one"
         )
 
+    ignored_versions = set()
+    if TEST_SUITE_CONFIG[integration].get("ignore") is not None:
+        ignored_versions = SpecifierSet(
+            TEST_SUITE_CONFIG[integration]["ignore"], prereleases=True
+        )
+
     filtered_releases = []
     last_prerelease = None
 
@@ -147,10 +153,11 @@ def _prefilter_releases(
         if min_supported and version < min_supported:
             continue
 
-        if version.is_postrelease:
+        if version.is_postrelease or version.is_devrelease:
             continue
 
-        # If we made it here, we want to consider this release.
+        if version in ignored_versions:
+            continue
 
         if version.is_prerelease:
             if last_prerelease is None or version > last_prerelease:
@@ -173,8 +180,9 @@ def _prefilter_releases(
 
     # Check if the latest prerelease is relevant (i.e., it's for a version higher
     # than the last released version); if not, don't consider it
-    if last_prerelease is not None and last_prerelease > filtered_releases[-1]:
-        return filtered_releases, last_prerelease
+    if last_prerelease is not None:
+        if not filtered_releases or last_prerelease > filtered_releases[-1]:
+            return filtered_releases, last_prerelease
 
     return filtered_releases, None
 
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 4ed6285936..83ba318643 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -246,7 +246,6 @@ envlist =
     {py3.8,py3.9}-spark-v3.2.4
     {py3.8,py3.10,py3.11}-spark-v3.4.4
     {py3.8,py3.10,py3.11}-spark-v3.5.4
-    {py3.9,py3.11,py3.12}-spark-v4.0.0.dev2
 
 
     # ~~~ Web 1 ~~~
@@ -647,7 +646,6 @@ deps =
     spark-v3.2.4: pyspark==3.2.4
     spark-v3.4.4: pyspark==3.4.4
     spark-v3.5.4: pyspark==3.5.4
-    spark-v4.0.0.dev2: pyspark==4.0.0.dev2
 
 
     # ~~~ Web 1 ~~~