diff --git a/datashader/datashape/coretypes.py b/datashader/datashape/coretypes.py
index a6c9bcf1f..637683e6b 100644
--- a/datashader/datashape/coretypes.py
+++ b/datashader/datashape/coretypes.py
@@ -775,7 +775,7 @@ def from_numpy_dtype(self, dt):
         elif np.issubdtype(dt, np.timedelta64):
             unit, _ = np.datetime_data(dt)
             return TimeDelta(unit=unit)
-        elif np.issubdtype(dt, np.unicode_):
+        elif np.__version__[0] < "2" and np.issubdtype(dt, np.unicode_):  # noqa: NPY201
             return String(dt.itemsize // 4, 'U32')
         elif np.issubdtype(dt, np.str_) or np.issubdtype(dt, np.bytes_):
             return String(dt.itemsize, 'ascii')