Carlton Cuse
“Bates Motel” executive producer Carlton Cuse said that seeing the show’s set being demolished was the moment that hit him that the A&E series is really over. Pictured: Cuse participates in a panel during FX Networks’ part of the Television Critics Association Winter 2014 presentations in Pasadena, California on Jan. 14, 2014. Reuters/Kevork Djansezian

“Bates Motel” executive producer Carlton Cuse shared the first time it hit him that the A&E series has indeed come to an end.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Cuse revealed that as a writer and executive producer, he doesn’t mourn the end of a TV series just once. “You go through all these different mourning periods when a series ends,” Cuse said. “When you finish writing. When you finish the [filming the] final episode. [And] when the final episode airs.”

But in the case of “Bates Motel,” Cuse said that the real jolt for him came when he saw a video of the “Bates Motel” set being torn down. “They knocked it down so quickly,” he said.

READ: Freddie Highmore reveals things he’ll miss after “Bates Motel” ends

Freddie Highmore, who plays Norman Bates on the “Psycho” prequel series, told BT.com that the Bates family house was demolished just a few hours after they wrapped filming. “The ripping the set down was sad,” Highmore shared. “They were tearing it down 12 hours after we finished, the house was being demolished and everything. They’ve kept it up for five years between the seasons, so it does begin to feel like your house after working there so long. It has very real memories. You remember all the scenes you’ve had there and attach memories to them all. So when you go in the next day and it’s all destroyed and knocked down, it is very sad.”

“I’m still in denial I think,” the British actor said when asked if he misses the show. “You get used to breaks in seasons, so it will probably hit me later down the line that we’re not going back and it’s over.”

“Bates Motel” series finale airs tonight at 10 p.m. EDT on A&E. In the trailer for the season ender, Romero (Nestor Carbonell) takes Norman into the woods and brutally beats him. At some point in the clip, Romero also points a gun to Norman’s head. Will Romero kill Norman in the finale or will it be the other way around?

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