‘Bates Motel’ season 4 debate: Should it be final season for Freddie Highmore, cast?

Tonight, “Bates Motel” ended its third season on A&E, but is there a whole lot more that this series can really do? It’s a complicated question, but one that is unfortunately without much of a concrete answer.

Unlike some other shows on TV, this is not a show with an unknown ending. While we know that the writers are taking some liberties from the Hitchcock source material, it would make little sense to go through the entire process of the show without a similar ending. When you also have a character descending into darkness like Norman Bates is, there is really only so long that you can keep this progress going without it starting to not make sense anymore.

For an interesting case study here, let us turn for a minute to “Dexter.” Did the Michael C. Hall series last a little bit too long for its own good? Probably. It was a show that peaked with season 4, but it was probably still very strong until part of the way through season 6. They would have been better off ending there.

Here, there is a good case to be made for keeping the pace moving along, and giving the series a great conclusion that leaves you wanting more. It’s with that in mind that we probably advocate giving us one or two seasons more max of Freddie Highmore and company before ultimately closing the book. We have faith that the right decisions will be made here given the creative team involved. Carlton Cuse was smart enough to create an endgame plan for “Lost” in advance, and we imagine that he has something similar formulated here.

How long do you think “Bates Motel” should last?