Although we haven't been closely following Bates Motel, it's had some interesting moments and a pretty great finish to its most recent season.

With the series now heading into its fifth and final season, Bates Motel now appears to be catching up with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in a more meaningful way, specifically relating to one particular character - Marion Crane.

In the original film, the young woman - played by Janet Leigh - checks into the eponymous hotel where Norman Bates then quickly murders her in short fashion. The sheer shock of it all, especially considering Janet Leigh was a hugely popular actress and nobody expected her to die so quickly, became one of the seminal moments in film history.

It's not yet known precisely how and when Rihanna's version of the character will enter in the fifth season or, indeed, if she ends up getting stabbed ala Psycho. The announcement was only made yesterday at - where else - San Diego Comic-Con where Rihanna made the reveal via a phone-recorded video message to those gathered at the panel.

Carlton Cuse, the showrunner, explained to THR that the fifth season "is going to see a version of Norman that is much closer now to the one in the movie, but the way in which he acts and the events in the story will not be the same as the movie. They will cross paths with some of the events in the movie and lead to an ultimate resolution. What that resolution is and how that plays out is something that will be not disconnected to the movie Psycho but will be very much our own story in the same way the entire series has been."

Aside from a small role in Peter Berg's schlockbuster-based-on-a-board-game Battleship, Rihanna has had little in the way of acting experience. She did turn up, albeit as herself, in This Is The End and she had a very small cameo in the Annie remake, however her role in Bates Motel will be her first major acting role.

As well as this, Rihanna is also confirmed to appear in an unspecified role in Luc Besson's space-opera epic Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets.

Bates Motel's fifth season kicks off in 2017.

 

Via THR