Vera Farmiga will star as Norman Bates' mother, in A&E's Psycho prequel that is still happening

A&E's taxidermy bird of a prequel Bates Motel has chosen the lead actress to aid in propping up the long-dead franchise with filler: It's Vera Farmiga, in her first return to series television after jumping from the likes of Touching Evil to roles in films such as The Departed and Up In The Air. As previously reported, Lost's Carlton Cuse will lend his acumen for stalling to stretching out the story of a young Norman Bates and the roots of his twisted psyche, despite this having already been thoroughly explored over years of sequels and especially in Psycho IV: The Beginning. At the center of that effort, of course, will be Norman's mother, Norma, whom Deadline reports Farmiga will play as a "smart, multidimensional character who is always capable of surprising us," unless you've seen any of those movies. Otherwise, the fact that she sexually confuses Norman until ending up as a desiccated skeleton that he screeches at while occasionally dressing up as her and murdering people maybe isn't such a surprise.