‘Bates Motel’ Season 2 Spoilers: Who Killed Miss Watson? Theories About A New Town Villain

In a few weeks, “Bates Motel” will be reopening for its highly anticipated second season. After an explosive season 1 finale, fans of the A&E series are in for a treat because the start of season 2 sounds like a doozy.

As we previously reported, the season 2 premiere, “Gone But Not Forgotten” will pick up in the summer. For White Pine Bay, that means tourist season, but the focus of the town will be on the grisly murder of Miss Watson. The episode will find Norman “fixated” on the death of his English teacher, which could potentially make him look guilty.

According to TV Guide, the teen will draw suspicion by “sobbing during the funeral and obsessively visiting the gravesite.” Her murder will reportedly “take a toll on him.” But is the suspicion that he killed her? Or had an affair with her?

Viewers know that nothing inappropriate happened between the teacher and student in the season 1 finale. Still, there's no denying that Miss Watson’s actions were a little sketchy. She seemed to have a soft spot for Norman, and after taking him back to her place to get cleaned up, proceeded to change her clothes with the door to her room ajar.

The last thing fans saw was Norman hallucinating a conversation with his mother, where she accused the teacher of wanting to seduce him. The finale concluded with Norman running through the rain toward the motel, and the cameras panning across Miss Watson’s body on the floor.

Due to Norman’s history with blacking out and committing violent acts, viewers immediately believed that the teen murdered Miss Watson. But TV Guide reveals that “someone else in town may have a pretty strong motive.”

Who might this person be? We’ve got a few theories.

A promo video released in late January showed a sneak peek at season 2, but the clip was a flashback to the dance at the end of season 1. It turns out that before the dance, Miss Watson had an unknown lover at her home. That mysterious lover used a camera to film her, and the two had sex before separately and sneakily leaving the house.

The lover wasn't identified, but it’s important to remember that the finale ended with a “B” necklace draped around her neck. “B” was the nickname of the woman who was having an affair with Bradley’s father. And the lover can’t be Bradley’s father because he was murdered at the beginning of the season.

So, who could be her lover? There's a chance that it’s a newcomer, but a cool theory would be that Miss Watson’s secret boyfriend was Bradley’s high school boyfriend, Richard Slymore. Since Richard is a teen, it would explain the secret relationship and be a great excuse for why his relationship with Bradley is so strained. The use of the camera in the video also seems juvenile, which could hint at a younger lover. Richard may have killed Miss Watson out of jealousy of seeing her with his rival, Norman.

The second theory about Miss Watson’s murderer is Bradley herself. Bradley could have figured out that Miss Watson was her father’s mistress, “B.” Since the premiere synopsis for “Bates Motel” teases that Bradley is “driven to extreme measures” to search for her father’s killer, we don’t doubt that she’d do the same to find out the woman who ruined her family's life.

With the introduction of a series of new characters this season, Miss Watson’s killer could also be someone that viewers have yet to meet -- like perhaps Norman’s brother, Caleb -- or maybe even her new love interest, George.

“Bates Motel” returns to A&E for its second season on Monday, March 3 at 9 p.m. EST. Who do you think killed Miss Watson? Let us know your theories in the comments section or send a tweet to @AmandaTVScoop.