‘Bates Motel’ season 5: Rihanna to play Marion Crane in final season (Comic-Con 2016)

The first announcement we should get out of the way for the upcoming season of “Bates Motel” is one that is not going to be a whole lot of a surprise to anyone: This is the final season of the show coming up. Given what happened to Norma Bates at the end of season 4, it only made sense for there to start to be some sort of endgame for the series.

The second announcement is one that completely floored us: Pop star Rihanna is slated to appear in the role of Marion Crane, the iconic character from “Psycho” who was stabbed by Norman Bates in the shower. In a statement, executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin proclaimed their excitement to have her grace the show with her presence:

“We wanted to thrust the iconic role into a contemporary spotlight and redefine it in a meaningful and exciting new way. We also heard Rihanna was a fan of the show, and we were huge fans of hers, so it was the perfect collision of creativity and fate.”

This is a bold, interesting choice for the role, and one that we like just because it represents producers thinking outside of the box a little bit. Plus, this is the sort of casting that will make an enormous splash, and hopefully have a wide array of people interested in the show, even if they have not been faithful watching the show since the beginning.

Ultimately, we will have a chance to see the rest of the story play out when the final season of “Bates Motel” premieres. For now, let us know what you think about this particular casting in the comments.