Rihanna checks in at "Bates Motel" as the A&E thriller drama reaches its fifth and final season. The Grammy award-winning singer is set to play Marion Crane, a character that was once played by Janet Leigh in the 1960 thriller ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock. In the original film, Marion showed up at Bates Motel after stealing money and was killed off in the first scene, to everyone’s surprise.
This time, Rihanna’s role in "Bates Motel" season 5 will be different from the original portrayal of Marion. “[Psycho] 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,” executive producer Kerry Ehrin said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Rihanna’s "Bates Motel" character is probably not expecting Norman Bates to fall for her, but such circumstances will certainly surround her when she arrives at the motel. Ehrin noted that ‘Bates Motel’ season 5 story will begin around 18 months after Norman’s mother, Norma Bates, died.
“Norman is in an incredibly intense and interesting place that we’ve built him to when that sequence of episodes starts,” he commented. Ehrin also pointed out that Norman remains in a “very fragile” and “lonely” state of mind, and an appealing woman in the form of Marion comes around, being present for him when he needs her. “All those things are exactly what he needs right at this moment,” the exec producer concluded.
Fans can look forward to Rihanna’s appearance on "Bates Motel" season 5 at the end of the official series trailer, available on YouTube, as she asks Norman, played by Freddie Highmore, for a room. In the classic movie, Norman kills Marion while she is taking a shower, becoming the horrifying infamous shower scene.
For the "Work" singer, doing several episodes for "Bates Motel" is only one of the many other acting roles she is set to take. While she is set to join the all-female reboot "Ocean’s 8," she will also appear in the upcoming sci-fi film "Valerian."
The "Bates Motel" season 5 premiere is set on Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on A&E. Its official trailer can be viewed below.
