Hitchcock changed this to a more handsome man to make the character appear more sympathetic and give him the normal boy next door look. This in turn led to him casting Anthony Perkins, who he would always address as "Master Bates" during filming.
Vera Farmiga was also offered the chance to direct but declined. When asked if she would like to direct an episode of the show, Vera Farmiga hesitated because, on a TV show, the director doesn't have final cut. Although Norman Bates has traditionally been portrayed as an only child, Ed Gein, the real life serial killer whose atrocities were the basis for the character of Norman Bates, did, in fact, have an older brother.
The company that Marion Crane Rihanna works at is named R. Bloch, an homage to Robert Bloch who wrote the original novel Psycho, upon which Bates Motel is based. Robert Bloch was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle and was mentored by H. Lovecraft himself. With the airing of Bates Motel, this marks the third time a replica of the Psycho house has been built. The second replica was built in Winnemucca, Nevada in to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Psycho.
The series' actual set in Aldergrove, British Columbia. Other set locations have been used throughout the Fraser Valley, British Columbia. The set of the original film was replicated in Aldergrove, located on nd Street. The role of Emma's Olivia Cooke dad was portrayed by two actors over the course of the series. It is actually illegal in Oregon to pump your own gas.
Several actors involved in the show have become associated with horror films, specifically Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, and Vera Farmiga. Farmiga and Cooke are known as scream queens, with the former being the star of Joshua , Orphan , The Conjuring , and The Conjuring 2 Episode 5.
Recommendations Fans of her also like:. See All Recommendations. Get to Know her in See Details. Bates Motel. See Profile 0. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. A lot of female-centric horror is about motherhood, in one sense or another. Think of Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist , both movies about the fear that your child might be some otherworldly thing that even its mother struggles to love.
Or think about how the monster in Alien may as well be a malevolent fetus, looking for any exit it can find. This makes sense. Pregnancy is one of the most taxing — and on some level, horrifying — experiences the human body can go through, and it's rife with moments when tweaking things just a little can lead to sheer terror at the alien invader occupying your body.
Then, once you actually give birth, your kid is forever growing apart from you, bit by bit, becoming her own person.
You can't control that; there's no way to guarantee the child won't become a monster. By many modern standards, Norma Bates the incomparable Vera Farmiga does everything right. She loves her son Norman Freddie Highmore as much as she possibly can. She tries to protect him from the world's darkness. But by doing that, she's feeding the growing psychopath inside him, the terrifying murderer he is already becoming. And in "Forever," the ninth episode of the series' fourth season, it appears she's fallen victim to the son she's always tried so hard to protect.
Throughout season four, Bates Motel has seemed to be barreling toward the moment when Norma goes from a living, vital presence to the mummified corpse in the cellar we see in Psycho , someone who only exists as a hallucination goading Norman into greater and greater crimes. That moment seemed to arrive in "Forever," as Norman filled the Bates home with carbon monoxide, and Norma apparently succumbed. Fans know the show has been renewed for a fifth and probably final season, but there's a certain thrill to the notion that the kind, loving Norma who can't seem to stop screwing up her kid has exited the show entirely near the end of season four.
It would open up completely new terrain for next week's season finale and the upcoming season five. But Bates Motel has done such a great job of building the inevitability of this horrible tragedy that season four also feels at times like being behind the wheel of a speeding car whose brakes have gone out.
In the eighth episode, "Unfaithful," alone, Norman threatened his stepfather with an ax and got into a screaming argument with Norma about how she's not allowed to be happy, more or less. Norman, so used to having life revolve around him, increasingly can't understand why his mother has invalidated this central contract of their relationship. Bates Motel has argued this season that if Norma wants to be happy then Norman probably can't be, and vice versa. At home, Norman prepared a list of things he checked off after completing — packing up his taxidermy hobby, telling Emma about Norma's rape and Dylan's paternity, and dancing with his mother.
Meanwhile, he took a gun and bullets from his mother's drawer. Norma found him wandering in the woods with the gun and she was able to talk him out of killing himself. Wanting to flee the country with her sons, she ultimately allowed the polygraph, wherein Norman was asked if he killed Blaire Watson.
His mother's persona re-emerged and he answered "no". He passed the polygraph with a knowing smile to himself. The Immutable Truth. After spending the summer with his mother at the motel, Norman returned to school as a senior, but ran home after hallucinating Blaire Watson. Because of this, Norma decided to home school him. Dylan confronted her about letting Norman sleep in her bed, and, as a result, she set some boundaries which displeased him. She also decided to make him motel manager.
Although Norman took an immediate interest in the motel's new guest, Annika, he decided to finally ask Emma out. That evening, Norma caught him spying on Annika showering through an open bathroom window. She berated him and he promised not to do it again. When Annika asked for directions into town, Norman offered to show her the way and while driving she told him about her work. He told her where to take a turn. Later, as Emma left the motel to return home, Norman arrived back with Annika's car but she was nowhere to be found.
A Death in the Family. Norma became curious when Annika failed to return home, especially after Norman had lied about not being with her and Emma stating otherwise.
Norman and Emma went on their date and discussed sex as an important step into adulthood. The Arcanum Club. Norman became increasingly frustrated that his mother didn't trust him and blacked out, submerging himself in a bathtub, hoping to recall the events before Annika's disappearance.
Norma saved him, then locked up the motel as Annika arrived to die in her arms from a gunshot to the abdomen. Hearing the noise of the ambulance and police cars, Norman wandered down to the scene and believed he had something to do with it, but Norma reassured him he didn't cause it. Norman grew more suspicious over Annika's death and the secrecy between his mother and brother and Emma attempted to calm him by inviting him on a picnic, which she cut short when he mentioned Norma's suggestion that they shouldn't have sex.
Norman later arrived at Dylan's cabin and finding Caleb with him threatened to tell his mother. Norman awoke in his bed the following morning to find Emma in his room. She told him he blacked out and Norma asked her to stay with him while she went out.
When Dylan returned Norman told him that he had to tell Norma about Caleb. Later, Norman approached Norma as she was about to prepare dinner and asked her if she was wearing the same dress when he last saw her and said her blue and white dress was his favorite. He went up to her room and rummaged through her closet until he found the dress and caressed it. Norma called him for dinner and he hid it between the mattress of his bed.
When Dylan realized Norman didn't tell Norma about Caleb, he talked to Norman who told him he's sorry. He also urged Dylan to come clean to Norma and this caused Norma to storm out of the house. As she got into the car, he screamed to her. The Deal. In a fury, Norman started thrashing the kitchen, throwing various items at Dylan and screaming that Norma wasn't coming back. Dylan tried to calm him down and ended up punching him. Norman was put to bed and Dylan reassured him that Norma would come back.
Later, Norman called out for Norma, got out of bed and went towards his mother's room. Upon entering, he saw butterflies fluttering in the window and the wall began to crack. Suddenly, he awoke in bed. As he worked on a dead bird down in the basement and admonished Juno, the bird suddenly started flapping its wings and he crushed it, before putting his head down beside it. Dylan and Emma found him in a trance-like state and were really worried. As they brought him back upstairs and he said that he wanted his mother, they decided to put him to bed in Norma's room.
Dylan later awoke to hear rattling coming from the kitchen. Going to investigate he found Norman dressed in Norma's nightgown preparing food. Norman was put back in bed and when Emma left, Dylan lay down beside him and fell asleep. When Norma returned, she told them that they were going to see Caleb. Upon their arrival, Caleb emerged from his van and broke down in front of his sister and started hugging her, as Norman stared with anger on his face.
Norma Louise. Norman accompanied Norma when she went to get her phone repaired. When she received a call from James Finnigan, Norman answered the phone. James later called to the house to see Norman and to find out more about him.
Norman asked him what it was like to sleep with Norma and this made James believe that Norman's feelings for his mother were much deeper. Norman suddenly snapped and attempted to choke James for saying "such an ugly thing" but James managed to escape and ran out of the house. Norma found Norman in the basement and comforted him. Later that evening, Norman emerged from the basement to find Caleb there and prevented his uncle from sitting next to Norma at the dinner table by sitting next to her himself.
That night, as Norma slept Norman entered her room and caressed her thigh. The Last Supper. The following morning, Norma went into Norman's room to talk to him but he said he had to go down to the motel office to help Emma, acknowledging her declining health.
They were interrupted by noise from outside and when they went to look, Norman eyed Norma's bottom. When Norma went outside to confront the construction workers, who told her they were installing the pool she requested, Norman acted with hostility towards her and said that he had to go help Emma.
He later found Norma in her room and confessed that he may be sexually attracted to her, but Norma said that what he was feeling was completely normal for someone his age and they embraced each other. After trying to talk to James Finnigan, Norma confessed to Norman that she had told James about him killing his father and said that he was killing her as well, which infuriated Norman.
When she left, Norman saw his mother before him but he refused to listen to her, and ran off. When Emma decided to talk to him about their relationship, she said that she had helped Dylan take care of him when Norma ran off.
She said it would be best if they remained friends and hugged him, saying that she would always care about him. He pulled back from her and ran to his room, where he sat in the rocking chair until night fell and hallucinated Juno. After Norman told him that she was going to sort out the mess that she had created, he had a vision of her standing before him in her blue and white floral dress.
He pushed her aside and ran outside after the dog and down the darkened road where he was stopped by a person standing in the road. The person turned to reveal herself as Bradley. The Pit. Norman asked her why she had returned and she said that she didn't want to be dead any more. He decided to allow her to sleep in one of the motel rooms and gave her food, before she asked him if he could give her mother a message from her to say that she was actually okay.
They drove to her mother's house and Bradley was shocked to discover that she had re-married. When her mother and her husband departed, Bradley decided to do some exploring around the house and used a house key hidden under a candle to enter.
They found several photos of her mother and her new husband and only one of Bradley, which Bradley admitted to hating. They went upstairs and found that the decor was different and that Bradley's bedroom was now a fitness room. They went back to the car, where Bradley broke down and Norman held her hand to comfort her. They stopped by the sea and Norman admitted that he was a bad person. Norman arrived home to find Norma in the basement clearing away his taxidermy and questioned her.
Norma told him that if the investigation into his father's death was re-opened it would look bad if all of his taxidermy tools were found. Norman grabbed the knives and shouted at her, so she told him to go to his room and stay there. When they were back in the motel room, Bradley asked Norman what he had meant when he said he was bad and he admitted to having mental problems.
She then told him about the night he showed up at her house about to profess his love for her. She put her arms around his neck and admitted she had feelings for him, before they kissed.
They then engaged in more kissing and started making out, but Norman kept seeing 'Norma' who was disapproving of what was happening. Things came to a stop when he decided to leave the room and as he was walking back to the house, 'Norma' told him that Bradley needed to be dealt with.
Norman went to Bradley's motel room with some food but found it empty and saw that she had left via the bathroom window. When Norma returned home from visiting the mental hospital, she had a talk with Norman and told him she had visited a place where he could get professional help.
Unfortunately, he didn't take the news well. Later, he went to see Bradley, who told him she had broken into her mother's house and could pawn the jewelry so they would have enough money to leave that evening.
However, Norman was reluctant to leave Norma. Norma later found him in his room trying to hide a suitcase and he stormed past her, saying that he was leaving with Bradley.
Norma said that Bradley was dead but Norman said she wasn't and this led to them arguing on the stairs and as Norma tried to grab the suitcase she lost her balance and tumbled down the stairs. Norman tried to gather his belongings but Norma knocked him out and dragged him to the basement, where she tied his hands and legs up and rang Dylan for help.
When Dylan arrived and went down to the basement, Norman was nowhere to be found and they saw that Norman had escaped via a small window. Dylan came clean about Bradley faking her death, but still admitted that Norman couldn't differentiate between what was real and what wasn't. Norman was picked up by Bradley, who said that they would drive as far as the car took them before it ran out of gas.
However, as soon as they passed the sign that said they were leaving White Pine Bay, Norman started arguing with 'Mother', who said that 'she' wanted to talk to Bradley. Norman told Bradley this and forced the car off the road into the woods. Suddenly, Norman came to with his hands covered in her blood.
He drove to the fishing docks and taking one last look at Bradley's motionless body in the trunk, disposed of the car in the lake. Norman awoke in a field, covered in cuts and arguing with "Mother". A farmer discovered him and knocked him out when Norman tried to attack him. Norman was transported to a psychiatric hospital with no idea of what he was doing there.
A doctor informed Norman that she suspected Norman of being dangerous and wanted to keep him in for a hour observation. However, Norma brought Norman home and while cutting his hair, Norman told her about the "dream" he had that she had killed Bradley.
He made her promise not to send him back to the mental institution. Norma let him sleep in her bed but while she went out, he awoke to find himself locked in her room. Furious, he repeatedly banged on the door and managed to break through the door leading to his room. He put on Norma's nightgown and sat in front of the mirror, transforming into "Mother". When Audrey Decody called to the house, "Mother" answered the door and invited her in for tea.
Audrey explained her situation and "Mother" asked her what kind of mother would abandon her own child before strangling her to death with her own scarf.
A Danger to Himself and Others. When Norman awoke the following morning, he asked Norma why she had locked him in her room while she went out. She told him she had gone shopping and over breakfast he questioned why there were no grocery bags out.
She later found him in the basement next to the freezer and he questioned her about Audrey Decody's missing body. He said that Norma needed help and he would protect her. He later found her searching the pit and when a family arrived to check in, he told Norma to go up to the house to clean herself up as he would check them in.
After he finished doing so, he found the consent forms that Pineview had faxed over. He hallucinated his father who told him Norma was crazy and was really the one who killed him. Norman confronted Norma as she prepared dinner, refusing to leave her as he didn't trust her. As he sat at the opposite end of the table, he started creeping Norma out. He approached her and started yelling at her about her being the one who really killed Blaire Watson and Bradley Martin as she was jealous of them.
Norma fled the table and ran upstairs with Norman in pursuit. She tried to find the gun under her mattress but saw that Norman had it. She tried to get him to give it to her but knowing what she was up to, he pushed her away and she barricaded herself in Dylan's room and phoned Romero for help. Later when the coast was clear, she went downstairs and grabbed a pair of scissors.
She went down to the basement where she found Norman. He said he had found the consent forms and she told him she only wanted to help him. From the way he talked, it seemed like he was prepared to kill both of them but as Romero arrived, she took the gun from his hand and he was lead outside.
She grabbed the forms and pleaded with him to sign them, which he did. Goodnight, Mother. Norman was none too pleased about being admitted to Pineview and seemed disinterested when the nurse showed him around. He asked how long he would be there and was told it was for Dr. Edwards to decide.