He may have risen to fame as as a child actor, but Freddie Highmore proved his very adult acting chops on the final season of “Bates Motel” — as he was called on to play not just Norman Bates, but to also embody Norman-as-Norma, and even Norman-as-Norma-as-Norman. But Norman’s struggle with (in)sanity finally came to an end in the series finale, as he realized the fragile world he’d tried to construct with Mother’s mummified body couldn’t last — and he forced his brother, Dylan, to kill him.
Here, Highmore talks about ending the show he’d called home for the last five seasons as actor, writer and director, what it meant to have Dylan be the one who ended it all, and what he learned from the experience.
Were you happy with the finale?
I think it was a beautifully written end to the show. I think (showrunners) Kerry Ehrin and Carlton Cuse were so smart to refer back to the pilot and bring things full circle. It felt very satisfying and hopefully and a little heartbreaking, too. Tucker (Gates) our main director deserves so much credit. He brought so much creatively and stylistically to the show from the very beginning.
Norma and Norman did get reunited, if not in life then at least in death.
Yes, they’re reunited. I don’t know whether it’s a happy end or a sad end. In some ways, it does feel like the fitting end to a love story between Norma and Norman. They couldn’t be in life but they finally are in death. But at the same time I think it’s especially sad when you see in that last scene, Dylan stating all the things he’d dreamed of and wished had come true, that he wanted them all to be a family. He’d wanted Norma to be able to meet his kids. It’s sad because all three of them, all had this shared dream and desire. They were all fighting so hard for it and all trying to do this best to get there, but they weren’t able to achieve it. I think the line that really stood out to me was, if you really believe hard enough, you can make it that way, that Norman says to Dylan. It seemed to sum up not only Norman’s attitude but Norma’s too back in the time that she was alive. The idea that the two of them together by dint of loving each other so much, by fighting as hard as they possibly could and committing entirely to their dreams and desires, it would be OK and things would turn out all right. That’s what we’re all kind of taught to hope for as we grow up in life, this idea that we can do anything if you put your mind to it. But unfortunately the flip side to our romantic ending is that dreams aren’t always enough.
But he ultimately forced Dylan to kill him, which does seems intentional. Do you think Norman was truly insane by the end?
It’s interesting to raise the question of whether Norman was truly insane by the end. I think so much of the last episode sets up this idea he’s entirely committed to living in the reality of the pilot. He genuinely believes that his mother is there with him. They’re going to be starting over. Things are going to be great. He’s going to see Dylan who he hasn’t seen for so long. But I think once Dylan appears into that world, you realize there’s been a performance behind Norman’s for much of the episode. He’s trying to convince himself of something of which he’s not entirely certain. And he’s not as crazy as we might think. He has a degree of self-awareness about him. and the moment he’s forced to push and confront what he’s surrounded himself with, he starts to crack. That’s what he’s trying to hold onto. He knows his mother’s not around. That last scene is really a test that Norman is putting out there. A trial, will he able to live this life that he wanted or will it be impossible. And the moment that Dylan steps into that room and making him face the truth, I think the answer to that test is clear and there’s no other option. And that’s when he chooses to ask Dylan to take him out of the world and to be reunited to with her because that’s the only way he can be truly happy.
You were certainly put through through your acting paces this season, playing Norman as Norma as Norman. How did you keep track?
It always felt truthful. It was in the writing. It never felt gimmicky. It never felt that were switching up characters just to be cool. It always seemed to make sense. I understood where it was coming from. the one that was most hard to play of all was in the one that I got to direct where Norman had become Mother pretending to be Norman to Sheriff Green to get themselves out of jail and go back on the story Norman has already told. And that’s where it does become a little bit crazy, when you’re pretending to be Norman. There’s three different layers now of characters to play. I felt so lucky to be able to do those scenes and to have the time to do the transitions so it never felt forced. It never felt speeded up in editing. That process of why and when he becomes someone else was fundamental in making it believable.
