diff --git a/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x b/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
index 93d42cdc8f..4f3e083702 100644
--- a/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
@@ -1780,3 +1780,7 @@ Teodor Danciu (teodord@github)
  * Reported #4464: When `Include.NON_DEFAULT` setting is used, `isEmpty()` method is
    not called on the serializer
   (2.18.0)
+
+Matthew Luckam (mluckam@github)
+ * Contributed #4483: Remove `final` on method BeanSerializer.serialize()
+  (2.18.0)
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
index f807b5a704..10abd76b12 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ Project: jackson-databind
  (fix by Joo-Hyuk K)
 #4472: Rework synchronized block in `TypeDeserializerBase`
  (contributed by @pjfanning)
+#4483: Remove `final` on method BeanSerializer.serialize()
+ (contributed by Matthew L)
 
 2.17.1 (not yet released)
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/ser/BeanSerializer.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/ser/BeanSerializer.java
index dd9c86ed8e..61add225d9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/ser/BeanSerializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/ser/BeanSerializer.java
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@ protected BeanSerializerBase asArraySerializer()
      * {@link BeanPropertyWriter} instances.
      */
     @Override
-    public final void serialize(Object bean, JsonGenerator gen, SerializerProvider provider)
+    // note: was final before 2.18
+    public void serialize(Object bean, JsonGenerator gen, SerializerProvider provider)
         throws IOException
     {
         if (_objectIdWriter != null) {