Bates Motel casts a Norma Bates doppelganger for its final season

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

The final season of Bates Motel is gearing up to be a doozy. When last we heard from the show, they were making the truly inscrutable decision to cast Rihanna as Janet Leigh's ill-fated showerer Marion Crane, but now we're getting word that the season will also feature a character who is a doppelganger for Norman Bates' mother Nora, which surely won't help the young boy's shattered psyche one bit.

The actress they've cast, Isabelle McNally, is a relative unknown. She's appeared in a couple episodes of House of Cards and had minor roles in flicks like FRANCES HA, but the character seems like she'll be a doozy. Her name? Madeleine Loomis. As you probably know, a major character in PSYCHO is Sam Loomis, the boyfriend of Marion Crane (Donald Pleasence's character in HALLOWEEN and Skeet Ulrich's character in SCREAM also take on his moniker).

It is unknown what relationship Madeleine will have with Sam, but it certainly doesn't spell good news for Norman and Marion as the timeline of the show slowly creeps toward merging with the storyline of the original film.

The cast includes Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates, Vera Farmiga as his mother Norma, Max Thieriot as Dylan Massett, and Nestor Carbonell as Sheriff Alex Romero.

This contemporary prequel to the genre-defining film Psycho gives viewers an intimate portrayal of how Norman Bates’ psyche unravels through his teenage years. “Bates Motel” gives fans access to the dark, twisted backstory of Norman Bates and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma, truly is.