‘Bates Motel’ season 5 photos confirm new race swap with Rihanna as Marion Crane
The prequel series to Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho surprised everyone by being such a great success and tribute to the original film. Now Bates Motel moves into that time with Rihanna cast as Marion Crane….yes, that Rihanna. Check out a couple of photos and the new teaser below.
According to EW, who spoke with executive producer Kerry Ehrin, “Viewers will meet a very different, fleshed-out version of Marion when she arrives on Norman Bates’ doorstep. 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.”
Ehrin continued.
“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.”
The new episode picks up 18 months after Norma’s death. Vera Farmiga’s Mother has left behind a disturbed and lonely Norman (Freddie Highmore), who cares for the corpse in the basement of the eerie house.
Rihanna’s appearance is described as multi-episode arc, but there are a lot of things that have to happen before we get to that seminal shower scene.
As outrage mounts over the whitewashing in films like Ghost in the Shell or Iron Man 3, fans are expected to just look past the voluptuous Rihanna cast in the role portrayed by Janet Leigh, one of Hollywood’s most classy actresses.
While there may be backlash due to the change in race, to me it’s the less classy move. A&E is clearly going for smut and TMZ appeal. In fact, expect an extra WARNING the night of the shower scene as ratings will be booming with all of the perverts tuning in to see her heinie and side boob.
Bates Motel returns Monday, Feb. 20 at 10 p.m. ET on A&E.