As of today, he’ll also be joined by Laurie Metcalf, Tom Hollander, and Olivia Williams, who will play Gein’s mother, Alfred Hitchcock, and Hitchcock’s wife, Alma Reville, respectively (via Variety). Among, er, other things, Gein is known for being one of the inspirations for Psycho‘s Norman Bates, so it seems like that creative connection might be a major part of the series.
To lodge himself in that hallowed directorial mind, all Gein had to do was kill two women (at least that he confessed to—he’s suspected of murdering at least four more) and make a bunch of incredibly creepy interior design choices. When he was arrested in the 1950s, authorities found furniture, clothing, masks, and kitchenware made from human remains all over his home. Some were, um, sourced from the women he killed, while others were made from bodies he exhumed from the local cemetery. Gein died of lung cancer in a mental health institute in 1984, and now lies in an unmarked grave in his Wisconsin hometown.
Hollander previously starred in Murphy’s Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans, so he knows what he’s getting himself into here. Metcalf and Williams are new to the Murphy-verse. Metcalf is a 12-time Emmy nominee (and four-time winner) who’s starred in things like Lady Bird, Roseanne, Desperately Seeking Susan, Scream 2, and more. Williams recently starred as Camilla Parker Bowles in seasons five and six of The Crown. She’s next set to appear in Max’s upcoming Dune prequel series, Dune: Prophecy. Hollander, who got an Emmy nod for his work on Feud, has also recently starred in The White Lotus, Rev, and Taboo.
