‘Bates Motel’ EP Says Rihanna Was A ‘Dream-Come-True’ Choice For The Role Of Marion Crane

“Bates Motel” executive producer Carlton Cuse revealed that casting Rihanna as Marion Crane helped the show set its version of the character apart from Janet Leigh’s portrayal of the same role in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film “Psycho,” which inspired the A&E series.

Although the producers of the show knew for quite a while that Marion was going to be part of the storytelling, Cuse recently admitted to Rotten Tomatoes that there was a time when they were having a hard time finding the right take on the character.

“I think there was a phase in which we were worried about finding our own take on Marion Crane that was unique,” Cuse said. “What we didn’t want to do was cast someone who was a pale imitation of Janet Leigh, someone who would just make you think of that version of the character. We wanted to take Marion Crane and make her contemporary both in terms of the attitude of the character, the behavior of the character, and find some way to spin who that character was.”

Apparently, all these concerns were alleviated when Rihanna agreed to play the part. “Rihanna was kind of a magical dream-come-true choice,” said Cuse. “Had it not been her, I’m not quite sure what we would have done, but we were lucky enough to get her.”

As previously reported, the show reached out to Rihanna to play Marion when they found out that the songstress is a fan of the show.

“An article came out, an interview; I think it was in Vanity Fair, with Rihanna, who Carlton and I are both huge fans of. In the interview, she said ‘Bates Motel’ was one of her favorite shows,” executive producer Kerry Ehrin told Entertainment Weekly. “Carlton had the idea of reaching out to her to do a cameo to play Marion Crane. Then, as we developed the story, it needed to be a larger part and we were like, ‘Rihanna’s not going to be able to have time to do that.’ We reached out to her anyway and got on the phone with her and she was actually incredibly excited about it and wanted to do it and that’s how it started.”

It’s unclear when Rihanna will make her debut appearance on the show, but Ehrin confirmed that the pop star is set to appear in multiple episodes in Season 5.

An all-new episode of “Bates Motel” airs on Monday, March 13 at 10 p.m. EST on A&E.