‘Bates Motel’ EP Describes Vera Farmiga’s Role As ‘Mother’ In Season 5 Of A&E Series [SPOILERS]

In the past couple seasons of “Bates Motel,” fans only saw Mother (Vera Farmiga) once in a while, but when the A&E series returns for the fifth and final season next week, viewers will see more of the imaginary character as she threatens to take over Norman’s (Freddie Highmore) mind completely.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Kerry Ehrin said that Mother remains a fascinating character in Season 5. “Mother is such a fun character because she has the humanity of Norma (Farmiga), but she can seamlessly slide into complete practicality and violence,” Ehrin said. “It’s a real interesting character.”

Although Mother only exists in Norman’s mind, the exec producer said that the character is “very real” to Norman. “She’s very present,” Ehrin said of Mother, who is just basically Norman’s hallucination. “[It’s a character that] people would [also] feel was real and would start believing in and caring about.”

In addition to playing Mother, Farmiga — as revealed in a sneak peek from Season 5 — will also be portraying dead Norma in the upcoming installment.

“I have to tell you, Vera is the most … committed dead person you will ever come across,” Ehrin told Yahoo TV in May. “I have never seen anyone work so hard and so beautifully at being dead. It really is like she goes into a different place. She gets so still, and she can hold herself so still. It kind of blew me away, actually, because I was on set for a lot of time and she really feels dead when she’s doing those scenes.”

“Bates Motel” Season 5 premieres on Monday, Feb. 20 at 10 p.m. EST on A&E. Check out the synopsis for Season 5, episode 1, titled “Dark Paradise,” below:

“Norman tries to keep up appearances despite a troubling discovery; Dylan (Max Thieriot) and Emma (Olivia Cooke) receive a surprise guest.”