diff --git a/actor/src/main/mima-filters/2.0.x.backwards.excludes/simplify-forkjoin.excludes b/actor/src/main/mima-filters/2.0.x.backwards.excludes/simplify-forkjoin.excludes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b01dec911c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actor/src/main/mima-filters/2.0.x.backwards.excludes/simplify-forkjoin.excludes
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+# No longer need special code to support forkjoin dispatcher on JDK 8
+ProblemFilters.exclude[DirectMissingMethodProblem]("org.apache.pekko.dispatch.ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator#PekkoForkJoinPool.this")
diff --git a/actor/src/main/scala-jdk-9/org/apache/pekko/dispatch/PekkoJdk9ForkJoinPool.scala b/actor/src/main/scala-jdk-9/org/apache/pekko/dispatch/PekkoJdk9ForkJoinPool.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index 8e089d16a3..0000000000
--- a/actor/src/main/scala-jdk-9/org/apache/pekko/dispatch/PekkoJdk9ForkJoinPool.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
- * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
- * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-package org.apache.pekko.dispatch
-
-import org.apache.pekko
-import pekko.annotation.InternalApi
-import pekko.dispatch.ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator.PekkoForkJoinTask
-
-import java.util.concurrent.{ ForkJoinPool, ForkJoinTask, TimeUnit }
-
-/**
- * INTERNAL PEKKO USAGE ONLY
- *
- * An alternative version of [[ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator.PekkoForkJoinPool]]
- * that supports the `maximumPoolSize` feature available in [[java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool]] in JDK9+.
- */
-@InternalApi
-private[dispatch] final class PekkoJdk9ForkJoinPool(
-    parallelism: Int,
-    threadFactory: ForkJoinPool.ForkJoinWorkerThreadFactory,
-    maximumPoolSize: Int,
-    unhandledExceptionHandler: Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler,
-    asyncMode: Boolean)
-    extends ForkJoinPool(parallelism, threadFactory, unhandledExceptionHandler, asyncMode,
-      0, maximumPoolSize, 1, null, ForkJoinPoolConstants.DefaultKeepAliveMillis, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
-    with LoadMetrics {
-
-  override def execute(r: Runnable): Unit =
-    if (r ne null)
-      super.execute(
-        (if (r.isInstanceOf[ForkJoinTask[_]]) r else new PekkoForkJoinTask(r)).asInstanceOf[ForkJoinTask[Any]])
-    else
-      throw new NullPointerException("Runnable was null")
-
-  def atFullThrottle(): Boolean = this.getActiveThreadCount() >= this.getParallelism()
-}
diff --git a/actor/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/dispatch/ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator.scala b/actor/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/dispatch/ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator.scala
index e56b67bc4b..36d9820ae4 100644
--- a/actor/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/dispatch/ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator.scala
+++ b/actor/src/main/scala/org/apache/pekko/dispatch/ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator.scala
@@ -18,9 +18,7 @@ import org.apache.pekko
 import pekko.dispatch.VirtualThreadSupport.newVirtualThreadFactory
 import pekko.util.JavaVersion
 
-import java.lang.invoke.{ MethodHandle, MethodHandles, MethodType }
-import java.util.concurrent.{ Executor, ExecutorService, ForkJoinPool, ForkJoinTask, ThreadFactory }
-import scala.util.Try
+import java.util.concurrent.{ Executor, ExecutorService, ForkJoinPool, ForkJoinTask, ThreadFactory, TimeUnit }
 
 object ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator {
 
@@ -30,15 +28,12 @@ object ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator {
   final class PekkoForkJoinPool(
       parallelism: Int,
       threadFactory: ForkJoinPool.ForkJoinWorkerThreadFactory,
+      maximumPoolSize: Int,
       unhandledExceptionHandler: Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler,
       asyncMode: Boolean)
-      extends ForkJoinPool(parallelism, threadFactory, unhandledExceptionHandler, asyncMode)
+      extends ForkJoinPool(parallelism, threadFactory, unhandledExceptionHandler, asyncMode,
+        0, maximumPoolSize, 1, null, ForkJoinPoolConstants.DefaultKeepAliveMillis, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
       with LoadMetrics {
-    def this(
-        parallelism: Int,
-        threadFactory: ForkJoinPool.ForkJoinWorkerThreadFactory,
-        unhandledExceptionHandler: Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler) =
-      this(parallelism, threadFactory, unhandledExceptionHandler, asyncMode = true)
 
     override def execute(r: Runnable): Unit =
       if (r ne null)
@@ -110,23 +105,6 @@ class ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator(config: Config, prerequisites: DispatcherPrer
         asyncMode: Boolean,
         maxPoolSize: Int) = this(threadFactory, parallelism, asyncMode, maxPoolSize, false)
 
-    private def pekkoJdk9ForkJoinPoolClassOpt: Option[Class[_]] =
-      Try(Class.forName("org.apache.pekko.dispatch.PekkoJdk9ForkJoinPool")).toOption
-
-    private lazy val pekkoJdk9ForkJoinPoolHandleOpt: Option[MethodHandle] = {
-      if (JavaVersion.majorVersion == 8) {
-        None
-      } else {
-        pekkoJdk9ForkJoinPoolClassOpt.map { clz =>
-          val methodHandleLookup = MethodHandles.lookup()
-          val mt = MethodType.methodType(classOf[Unit], classOf[Int],
-            classOf[ForkJoinPool.ForkJoinWorkerThreadFactory],
-            classOf[Int], classOf[Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler], classOf[Boolean])
-          methodHandleLookup.findConstructor(clz, mt)
-        }
-      }
-    }
-
     def this(threadFactory: ForkJoinPool.ForkJoinWorkerThreadFactory, parallelism: Int) =
       this(threadFactory, parallelism, asyncMode = true)
 
@@ -139,14 +117,7 @@ class ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator(config: Config, prerequisites: DispatcherPrer
         }
       } else threadFactory
 
-      val pool = pekkoJdk9ForkJoinPoolHandleOpt match {
-        case Some(handle) =>
-          // carrier Thread only exists in JDK 17+
-          handle.invoke(parallelism, tf, maxPoolSize, MonitorableThreadFactory.doNothing, asyncMode)
-            .asInstanceOf[ExecutorService with LoadMetrics]
-        case _ =>
-          new PekkoForkJoinPool(parallelism, tf, MonitorableThreadFactory.doNothing, asyncMode)
-      }
+      val pool = new PekkoForkJoinPool(parallelism, tf, maxPoolSize, MonitorableThreadFactory.doNothing, asyncMode)
 
       if (virtualize && JavaVersion.majorVersion >= 21) {
         // when virtualized, we need enhanced thread factory
diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 8826338e61..a9b818ddc1 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ lazy val actor = pekkoModule("actor")
   .settings(AddMetaInfLicenseFiles.actorSettings)
   .settings(VersionGenerator.settings)
   .settings(serialversionRemoverPluginSettings)
-  .enablePlugins(BoilerplatePlugin, SbtOsgi, Jdk9)
+  .enablePlugins(BoilerplatePlugin, SbtOsgi)
 
 lazy val actorTests = pekkoModule("actor-tests")
   .configs(Jdk9.TestJdk9)