Bates Motel casts its young Norman Bates and Norman Bates' older, motorcycle-riding brother that he has, apparently
A&E's Bates Motel, the Psycho sort-of-prequel has cast Freddie Highmore as its young Norman Bates, having apparently decided that the Charlie And The Chocolate Factory star had the most sexual chemistry with Vera Farmiga as his mother. Of course, that uncomfortable, not-so-subtle tension—along with Norman's inevitable transformation into a killer, the seedy motel setting, and other things that have already been well-established by many years of Psycho franchising—eventually may be the only thing you recognize about Bates Motel. Having perhaps realized that it might otherwise be a rehash of the TV movie Psycho IV: The Beginning, the Carlton Cuse-produced series has been revealed (via a script leak to Shock Till You Drop) to be less straight prequel than contemporary reimagining, with all the creative liberties and cell phones that implies.