This afternoon A&E has handed a two-season, 20-episode renewal to veteran drama Bates Motel. The network has also officially cancelled drama The Returned after one season.
"The vision of our incredible creative team has exposed the steady breakdown of the relationship between Norman and Norma Bates," said Rob Sharenow, General Manager, A&E. "We are thrilled to bring fans two more seasons to witness the next stages of Norman's transformation into the most notorious psychopath in cinematic history."
Season 3 of Bates Motel debuted in March 2015 to a 0.9 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic and 2.1 million total viewers overall. It was the lowest debut for the series so far.
Production on the horror drama will resume later this debut for a Season 4 debut in Spring 2016. Executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin have always spoken about a five year plan for the drama. However, it's unclear if the early renewal for Season 5 will indeed for the final season for the show.
Bates Motel stars Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nicola Peltz, Nestor Carbonell and Kenny Johnson.
Adapted from the International Emmy-winning French series by Carlton Cuse and Raelle Tucker, The Returned also made its series debut in March but opened to only a 0.6 rating in A18-49 and 1.5 million total viewers overall. That number, of course, slipped throughout the season and is the primary reason the network isn't ordering any more episodes.
The cast for The Returned included Kevin Alejandro, Agnes Bruckner, India Ennenga, Sandrine Holt, Dylan Kingwell, Sophie Lowe, Mark Pellegrino, Jeremy Sisto, Mat Vairo, Tandi Wright and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
