diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-cig-pythia/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-cig-pythia/package.py
index f80423d86e2..07a77f84c75 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-cig-pythia/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-cig-pythia/package.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class PyCigPythia(AutotoolsPackage, PythonExtension):
     depends_on("mpi", when="+mpi")
     depends_on("python@3.8:")
     depends_on("py-pip")
+    depends_on("py-setuptools")
 
     def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec