diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 0618db3c..99701d93 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -416,18 +416,29 @@ jobs:
           echo "$ANNOUNCEMENT_BODY" > "$RUNNER_TEMP/notes.txt"
 
           # Append the commits included in this release (previous stable tag -> this release).
-          # Find the most recent stable v<major>.<minor>.<patch> tag that isn't the one being
-          # released; canary-* and other non-release tags are ignored by the glob.
-          previous_tag="$(git tag --list 'v[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*' --sort=-version:refname \
+          #
+          # Resolve the commit this release actually points at. On a manual
+          # workflow_dispatch the tag may already exist and point at a different
+          # commit than the workflow's github.sha, so prefer the tag when it
+          # resolves; otherwise fall back to the release commit (the normal push
+          # flow creates the tag at this commit in the release step below).
+          release_ref="$RELEASE_COMMIT"
+          if git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/${RELEASE_TAG}^{commit}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            release_ref="refs/tags/${RELEASE_TAG}^{commit}"
+          fi
+
+          # Find the most recent stable v<major>.<minor>.<patch> tag that precedes
+          # this release in its own ancestry (--merged), so re-publishing an older
+          # or backport release never picks an unrelated newer tag as the previous
+          # one. canary-* and other non-release tags are ignored by the glob.
+          previous_tag="$(git tag --list 'v[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*' --merged "$release_ref" --sort=-version:refname \
             | grep -vFx "$RELEASE_TAG" | head -n1 || true)"
 
           if [ -n "$previous_tag" ]; then
-            commit_range="${previous_tag}..${RELEASE_COMMIT}"
-            range_heading="$previous_tag...$RELEASE_TAG"
+            commit_range="${previous_tag}..${release_ref}"
           else
-            # First release: include the whole history up to this commit.
-            commit_range="$RELEASE_COMMIT"
-            range_heading="$RELEASE_TAG"
+            # First release (no earlier tag in ancestry): include the whole history.
+            commit_range="$release_ref"
           fi
 
           commits="$(git log --no-merges --pretty=format:'- %s (%h)' "$commit_range" || true)"