It’s been several months since A&E revealed two big announcements at their annualBates MotelComic-Con panel. The first reveal was that the show’s upcoming fifth season will be its last, and the second was that pop superstar, actress and hugeBates MotelfanRihannahas come aboard to play the iconic role of Marion Crane, the character played byJanet LeighinAlfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classicPsycho. Now we finally have our first look atRihanna’s Marion Crane with a new trailer and photos released by A&E, along with new details on the final season from executive producerKerry Ehrin, while some of the show’s cast members shared the final photos from the set as filming on the series finale recently wrapped.
Entertainment Weeklydebuted this new trailer and photos, withKerry Ehrintelling the site more about how they’re bringing this show to a close. Earlier this month, A&E released a newBates Motel Season 5 trailerthat shows Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) has been keeping his mother Norma’s (Vera Farmiga) corpse preserved in the freezer, while he interacts with an unseen person he has seemingly abducted. Executive producerKerry Ehrinteased that while it seems the show may certainly tie in neatly with the events portrayed inPsycho, there will be a few surprises in store for fans, with the executive producer teasing that the season begins 18 months after the death of Norma. Here’s what she had to say aboutRihanna’s multi-episode arc as Marion Crane onBates Motel.
“We’re taking threads of that story and definitely using them so it’s recognizable, it’s just where we go with it is very different. It’s tough to be in a situation where you’re in love with a guy, and for whatever reason, he keeps stalling. You still have all this hot sex with him, and he’s saying he loves you, but he’s stalling. The internal story of that, for a woman, is a really interesting one. We never really got to see that. InPsycho, you just see the outside of that more. It was trying to do a story about a contemporary woman with some edge, with some expectations, who isn’t perfect, who isn’t always perfectly sweet, who is in that situation, but we’re rooting for her to get what she wants. Norman is in an incredibly intense and interesting place that we’ve built him to when that sequence of episodes starts. It’s this collision of Bates Motel storytelling and then Marion Crane showing up into that. He’s in a very fragile and lonely place, and Marion Crane is a charismatic woman, she’s super present when she’s with him and she’s very attractive, all those things are exactly what he needs right at this moment.”
Just as this new trailer and photos arrived, production came to an end onBates Motel, with starsVera Farmigasharing a final photo from the set, where’s she’s giving a peck on the cheek to her co-starFreddie Highmore, and another of the actual motel being disassembled, whileBrooke Smith(Sheriff Jane Greene) shared a photo of bothVera FarmigaandFreddie Highmoretogether on their last day. The end of this new trailer shows Marion Crane’s arrival at theBates Motel, asking Norman if she can have a room, which ends with Norman using a peephole to spy on Marion while she’s taking a shower.
This contemporary prequel to the genre-defining filmPsychohas provided fans with an intimate look into the unraveling of Norman Bates' psyche throughout his teenage years. Fans watched as Norman’s dangerous transformation came full circle when he methodically murdered his beloved mother, Norma, in the final gut-wrenching episodes of season four. Season five ofBates Motelpicks up almost two years later and finds Norman (Freddie Highmore), a grown man now, living a double life. Publicly he’s a happy and well-adjusted member of the White Pine Bay community, but at home Norman struggles; his violent blackouts continue to increase as ‘Mother’ (Vera Farmiga) threatens to take over his mind completely. Meanwhile, Dylan Massett (Max Thierot) and Emma Decody (Olivia Cooke), since leaving White Pine Bay, have been living their lives blissfully unaware of Norma’s death and Norman’s full on descent into psychosis. Unfortunately, for them, they will soon find themselves drawn back into Norman’s insanity, while a vengeful Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell), who is currently incarcerated for a perjury, hungers for a chance to destroy his stepson and avenge the murder of his one true love, Norma Bates. Take a look at this new trailer and photos for the final season ofBates Motel, which debuts February 20 on A&E.
