If you aren’t amped for the Psycho prequel series Bates Motel from Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights), you should be. Today at the launch of the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, the showrunners and some of the cast talked about A&E’s upcoming psychological thriller.
First and foremost, Cuse made it a point to say that Bates Motel is inspired by but does not serve as an homage to Hitchcock’s classic film. “We did not want to do an homage to Psycho, we wanted to take these characters and setup as inspiration,” Cuse said specifically. “We don’t really view any of [the original movie] as canon,” he added. “The idea of an homage was just not going to be engaging to me. Making the fundamental decision to make it contemporary gave us the freedom to take these characters wherever we wanted. There’s a certain amount of baggage that comes with taking on ‘Psycho’ … making it contemporary made it become liberated from the original movie.”
Mystery and intrigue line the modernized story of Norman Bates (Freddy Highmore) and his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga). “The mythology that you think is what dictates the relationship between Norma and Norman is not what it’s going to turn out to be,” tantalized Cuse. The former Lost showrunner mentioned that his new series will not feature out-of-this-world characters or scenarios. “No polar bears, no smoke monsters — just say no right off the top. There’s no supernatural elements in play. We view this as a psychological thriller.” He confirmed that the show is in fact of the serialized sort, and it will tell a contained story with a defined beginning, middle, and end. “There is an endpoint to this narrative, absolutely. … In some general form we are going to catch up with a version of [Norman] from the movie.” Additionally: “Like all the best serialized shows, whether Breaking Bad or Homeland, it’s a kind of a story that takes ten episodes to unfold. And there’s some hooks that will hopefully carry us into a second season. We’re not just solving one particular crime. There’s a number of mysteries.”
Cuse also touched on the fact that he, Ehrin, and the writers are well aware of the prequel nature of the show; though an original story about Norman’s formative years will unfold, audiences know exactly where things are headed. But Cuse says they are using that to their advantage–Norman will become a serial killer, but how? “This is a tragedy, it’s a fantastic dramatic form,” Cuse said. “We want the audience to fall in love with these characters, particularly Norman. That tension of knowing what their fate is and how they get there was something we thought was really telling.” He compares the direction in which Bates Motel will go to Titanic. “I love Titanic and the idea that you’re rooting for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to survive despite the fact that you know they’re not going to — that’s the feeling we’re going for here. … The specific way in which their tragic fate plays out will be of our own invention.”
Highmore managed to speak up during the panel discussion as well. Going off of what Cuse was saying, the Bates Motel star questions how his Norman character will eventually reach his tragic point of no return. “We all know where he’s going to end up — but is that because of his upbringing? Is it nature vs. nurture? Or is it because they moved to this dodgy town? Or is it because of intimate relationship between Norma and Norman? If I had had the upbringing Norman had, would I have been slightly different? We all go a little mad sometimes.”
A&E took this opportunity to formally announce the premiere date for Bates Motel: Monday, March 18 at 10PM. The series also stars Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nicola Peltz, Mike Vogel, and Nestor Carbonell.