'Bates Motel' final season premieres earlier than usual

Final season as it may be, "Bates Motel" is no longer planning to stretch out the agony of its loyal fanbase as the psychological thriller pencils in a premiere for its upcoming series finale outing earlier than its previous installments.

As it turns out, Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) will be checking back in after the terrible death of his mother toward the end of season 4 this February 20, 10 p.m. ET on A&E as confirmed by Entertainment Weekly. The show's comeback is a bit earlier than usual as "Bates Motel" usually premiered around early to mid-March in its last four outings on air. The fifth season of the show will pick up the story following a couple of cliffhangers left by its past installment including the younger Bates digging up the body of Norma (Vera Farmiga) and bringing her home.

It can be remembered that the season 4 parting shot involved Norman having hallucinations of his mom still alive and playing the piano in light of celebrating Christmas. While he enjoys much alone time with Norma, or her corpse, Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) has his own ordeals to tackle on putting a damp on investigating on his hunch that his wife was killed in a roundabout way by his stepson. Elsewhere, Dylan (Max Thieriot) still does not know what happened back home and it will be interesting to see how he will react to it given that he was not able to partake in his mom's burial.

Aside from the fact that "Bates Motel" season 5 will be tying loose ends of its narrative as well as spelling out the fate of major game players from the show, it also opens up a brand-new story with the introduction of Marion Crane. The character, played by pop star Rihanna, had a major role in the 1960s Alfred Hitchcock film "Psycho" to which the series serves as a contemporary sequel. This specific trajectory also signals the completion of Norman's transformation which has already slowly started last season although it is yet unknown how Crane's story will be fitted into the already existing plot arc of the show.