Freddie Highmore To Play Norman Bates In A&E’s ‘Psycho’ Prequel Series ‘Bates Motel’

Freddie Highmore, who  played the title role opposite Johnny Depp in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, is taking on a far more menacing character next. The young British actor has been cast to play Norman Bates opposite Vera Farmiga in in A&E’s upcoming series Bates Motel, which serves as a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock horror classic Psycho. The series examines the twisted relationship between serial-killer-to-be Bates and his mother Norma (Varmiga). This marks the U.S. series debut for Highmore, who also toplined the feature The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Comments (11)

  • Well, I guess the casting making sense. I did enjoy his moody, angst-ridden character in “The Art of Getting By”.

    Comment by Michael Coalmane — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 4:26pm PDT  Reply to this post
  • Ugh more British actors…

    Comment by Paul — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 4:39pm PDT  Reply to this post
    • You are a seriously insular individual.

      Comment by Anonymous — Wednesday December 26, 2012 @ 1:20pm PST  Reply to this post
  • Oh now that’s an original casting call, said the casting director– never.

    Comment by Anonymous — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 4:57pm PDT  Reply to this post
  • This cast is turning out to be terrific

    Comment by Norma — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 5:49pm PDT  Reply to this post
    • Doesn’t matter if the script is bad.

      Comment by Skeptic — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 7:34pm PDT  Reply to this post
    • I agree, excellent casting so far.

      Comment by Kay — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 10:25pm PDT  Reply to this post
  • Freddie is a great young actor. I cant wait to see what he does with the role.

    Comment by burkiss — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 5:53pm PDT  Reply to this post
  • This could be somewhat…cool. If:

    SCRIPT is above great

    Because…

    How many more serial killers do we, the audience,
    have to examine to what? Understand they’re fucked up and / or evil?

    It gets to the point after awhile, that we’re either
    too fucking stupid to realize how “off” they are
    or are also fucked up to watch another goddamn “study”.

    I hope no one here is doing this — just — to get a paycheck.

    Not with all the great unknown stories and storytellers out there being ignored by the system that could be as profitable as anything else.

    Comment by MARK GEORGEFF — Friday September 14, 2012 @ 8:17pm PDT  Reply to this post
    • “I hope no one here is doing this — just — to get a paycheck.”

      When it comes down to it, this business really is just one big hobby, right?

      Comment by Steve — Saturday September 15, 2012 @ 10:20am PDT  Reply to this post
    • Serial killers are reaching glut proportions. No more shows about: serial killers, cops, lawyers, doctors, gangsters and spies. We are full up or maybe fed up.

      I’d like to see more underexposed genres – real sci fi (set in the future and/or space, not a cop show where they chase vampires and demons, most so called sci fi nowadays are just cop shows) and historical drama (of which there are several examples but history is a big enough topic for there to be many more).

      Comment by Temis — Saturday September 15, 2012 @ 12:09pm PDT  Reply to this post
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