Rihanna takes on the role of Marion Crane in the new series of Bates Motel and the first trailer gives a brief tease of her role.
The character was originally played by Janet Leigh in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and later by Anne Heche in Gus van Sant’s shot-for-shot 1998 remake. The fifth and final season of the show, which has acted as a contemporary prequel following the character of Norman Bates, will see Crane crop up for a multi-episode arc.
The character’s background will remain similar, stealing money from her boss so she can be with her boyfriend, but her story will be more fleshed out.
“We’re taking threads of that story and definitely using them so it’s recognizable, it’s just where we go with it is very different,” executive producer Kerry Ehrin said to Entertainment Weekly. “It’s tough to be in a situation where you’re in love with a guy, and for whatever reason, he keeps stalling. You still have all this hot sex with him, and he’s saying he loves you, but he’s stalling. The internal story of that, for a woman, is a really interesting one.”
It’s the first of a set of high-profile roles for Rihanna who will also feature in this summer’s Luc Besson sci-fi adventure Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and next year’s star-studded caper Ocean’s 8.