The A&E drama series Bates Motel is the ultimate tale of family strife and murder, and Season 3 has the creepiness factor set at an all-time high. Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) is trying to hold it together while his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga), is becoming more fearful of what he is capable of. Forced to look at the truths about Norman for the first time, Norma turns to her other son, Dylan (Max Thieriot), which causes jealousy with Norman over their often far-too-close bond.

During this recent interview with the press, actress Vera Farmiga talked about Norma Bates’ personal growth, how stressful it is for Norma to deal with Norman’s declining mental state, how her character is a hopeless romantic, and why this season will leave the audience open-mouthed and panting, while executive producer Carlton Cuse talked about striving to make the show feel human and real, finding the right balance between character development and crime drama, and that five seasons will be the endgame for the series. Be aware that there are some spoilers.

Question: Norma became a stronger and more confident woman in Season 2. Will we continue to see signs of her personal growth?

VERA FARMIGA: To say the least, yes. Kerry [Ehrin] has taken the lead on writing Norma, and she writes Norma like I’m some sort of a demigod. But, I’m just a mere mortal and I’m mortally wounded from what she has me go through. It’s pretty nutty to see what we explore with this character, this season, with the height of righteousness that she possesses, and the depths of manipulation and depravity that she is capable of. And there are just so many antics and adventures for me to explore. It’s an outstanding role. I have never been challenged the way I am with this story and this particular character. Even as we speak, I’m heavily medicated with tremors and spasms, a torn shoulder and neck muscles, and the like. I am broken to smithereens. It’s a mental role that is, frankly, so not health for me, with all due respect to everyone. Kerry writes this stuff, and it’s torturous to us all to hit the notes that are required, emotionally, and to do it earnestly. Kerry really keeps us on point like that.

Now that Norma knows about Norman’s black-outs, will she ever let him back out into the regular world again? 

FARMIGA: You’re going to see a more unraveled Norma, this year. There’s mammoth stress in dealing with Norman’s mental state. It has a whopping physical and emotional toll on Norma, the way it would on any parent of a “special needs child.” Following the events of last season, Norma is more aware. She’s more circumspect, and she’s more attentive to Norman’s fragility. I think you’re going to see her playing her cards really close to her chest, in the beginning of the season, but she’s got to reach out. She’s as protective of him as ever, and is determined to help him, as best as she can, but she doesn’t always know how. I think she’s going to start reaching out to others. You’re going to see how the mother-son bond withstands those pressures.

How do you keep the relationship between Norman and Norma fresh?

FARMIGA: It’s a really great question because it’s an acting challenge for me and for Freddie, as well. As they head towards what seemingly is going to be their inevitable Hades, these emotional scenes come at such high frequency and duration that sometimes I honestly am just running out of ideas. It’s really interesting, the closeness, the friendship, the respect and the trust, between Freddie and myself. From an acting perspective, it’s just really intense work. Freddie has become really particularly adept at instigating me, and knowing my soft spots, emotionally, and treading like a bulldozer over them. In this last season, in particular, he can be a real prick when it comes to helping. It’s hard, and it’s just nutty.

I literally get angry at Kerry for writing this bat shit craziness, just because of endurance. Sometimes I just don’t know where it’s going to come from. You have to find a way to transfer it into the scene. Sometimes it’s just the panic of not knowing where to drill that wellspring of emotion, to quench the scene. Sometimes that’s enough to set me off. But, it comes down to what Freddie and I have together, as colleagues and as team players. There is so much trust that we can get pretty wily with each other. And that goes for the entire cast, every year. We just draw nearer and dearer to each other, and can push each other’s limits. We push each other for better, for more and for deeper. This show is special because there is so much darkness, and yet so much humor, watching these characters navigate in some ludicrously improbable situations. That’s what makes it so exhilarating. It’s acute, it’s intense and it’s agonizing, most of the time, but it’s balanced so beautifully. There’s a lot of joy, beauty, friendship and love.

CARLTON CUSE: The label of the show would be that it’s about a guy who’s growing up to become a serial killer, but we strive really, really hard to make it feel so human and real, and part of that is humor. The humor and heart of our show is what distinguishes it from other shows in the genre.

This season, the creepy factor between Norma and Norman is clearly vamped up. Are we going to see more of that, and is Norma going to be oblivious to it?

CUSE: She’s certainly not oblivious to it. We try to make the relationship between Norma and Norman different, every season. We’re watching a progression here. It’s the story about a mother who desperately loves her son, and is trying to prevent him from becoming this guy that he’s inevitably going to become. And this season, he starts to slide much more significantly into that character. He becomes less able to have a modulator or be conscious of his decline, and that causes really serious consequences in his relationship with his mom. We explore that in a lot of different ways, and that’s really the journey of the season.

Will we see Norma try to find more of a balance in her relationship with Norman, after Dylan points out that maybe it’s not quite right?

FARMIGA: Yes, indeed. I think she’s relying on Dylan in a way that she’d never expected to, and that relationship really deepens. They both share the same concern. They both want to help Norman, so she is relying on him for a male perspective on how to care for Norman.

How difficult is it to walk that fine line with Norma and Norman?

FARMIGA: From the acting perspective, it is so hopeless and so grim. It’s so dark to witness your child succumbing to darkness. And I think the only way that Norma knows how to keep her child from teetering over this miserable dark edge is to love him, physically and emotionally. The bottom line purpose and aim is to keep Norman safe and sound, and to help him navigate the world and protect him and promote normal psychological growth. She is trying to do that, in the best way she knows how, and I always come to that through earnestness. It’s really just always through that lens.

Carlton, in a world where we see so much and everything is available on the internet, at the touch of a computer key, is it challenging to do suspenseful, spooky TV that gets our attention?

CUSE: I think it’s harder to get people’s attention just because of the sheer magnitude of choices out there. There are 150 plus scripted cable shows, on 100 plus networks. I don’t even know what the total is, but it’s massive. There are just so many options that people have. But as a writer, you’ll drive yourself crazy, if you worry about that too much. People watch a lot of TV, so they think certain things are going to happen, and you’re always trying to subvert expectations. But I think those expectations change, based on the amount of TV people are consuming. So, we try to stay relevant and, at the same time, we’re always looking for ways to not have our stories unfold in a predictable manner.

Do you feel like there are times when less is more?

CUSE: We strive for a lot of nuance. I think we are incredibly blessed because Vera [Farmiga] and Freddie [Highmore] are so amazing. A lot of what makes that work is not what’s on the page. It’s what they do, as performers. They bring this innate chemistry to the relationship. What we put on the page, they elevate, in so many ways, in terms of how they translate that and deliver that in their performances.

What was the biggest challenge for you, this season? Was there a moment when you were like, “I don’t know if we can do this”?

CUSE: That’s a good question. We work hard on the crime story aspect of the show. The show, for us, is just a cocktail of super nuance for the character writing, combined with this intentionally pulpy crime drama. Getting that right is really hard to do. We have this character of Chick Hogan, played by Ryan Hurst, who is a very dangerous character for us to create because he’s right on the edge of being ridiculous or being terrifying. That was something that I think we were very nervous about being able to pull off, but I think we got on the right side of the line.

Vera, how would you describe this season for viewers?

FARMIGA: It’s going to leave our audience open-mouthed and panting.

Can Norma have a romantic relationship, or does she think all men are evil?

FARMIGA:   I don’t think she thinks that. She wants desperately to have someone sweep her off her feet and take care of her, in the way that she’s never had in her life. She yearns for that. There’s a deep, deep hankering to find a man she can trust. She hasn’t had that experience yet, but I think she’s a hopeless romantic and yearns for it. There are a couple of good potentials this season. We may or may not be talking capital R romantic. I can’t say.

What was it to work with Joshua Leonard again, having directed him in Higher Ground? 

FARMIGA: Norma is determined to make her business a success, so she starts enrolling in business classes at the local community college and there she meets James Finnegan. He launches her into a whole new path of discovery. And I rooted for Joshua to get this role. It’s very interesting, in Higher Ground, he played the husband in a relationship that I was leaving. This is more of a romantic role. We’re very close friends. It was a very interesting and bazaar dynamic between the two of us. It’s a character that Norma bonds intensely with, and he’s just phenomenal. It was a quirky experience to embark on. We are so close, and this is just a weird twist. It was amazing, but odd, at the same time, to work so closely, in a different capacity.

How will his character play into the storyline of Season 3?

CUSE: The quirkiness of it is great. Kerry and I strive to create characters who are quirky and odd, but believable, within our larger than life, pulpy world of White Pine Bay. And Joshua did such an incredibly great job of fitting that mold exactly. He’s odd, but he’s really compelling. And over the course of a few episodes, I think the audience will find themselves incredibly engaged in this relationship with these two characters, as it starts to deepen and unfold.

What can you say about Kenny Johnson, for this season, and the whole twisted daddy-uncle aspect?

CUSE: He’s a series regular, this season, so you’re going to be seeing a lot of him. It’s not a simplistic relationship. He’s not just a bad guy. We didn’t paint him with one color. And I think a lot of the season is about untangling all the layers of the relationship that he has with Norma, and also with Dylan, his son. There’s some really beautiful stuff that happens, between Vera and Kenny and Max [Thieriot], as they play that unfolding drama.

Vera, how has the show changed your life, in terms of your fans?

FARMIGA: I don’t think it has. I’ve always conducted myself a certain way, when it comes to press and availability. I have joined Twitter, on behalf of the show. I had a staunch resistance to it, at first, because I do believe it takes away mysticism. But at the same time, it is a very hands on way of me controlling the press about the show and about myself. Honestly, I think this role has attracted a certain kind of fan. It’s a delicate thing for me, with how involved I am in social media and being a part of people’s lives in a way that they want me to. I do see this job of mine as a vocation, and I am a role model for young women. I take my responsibility to heart and have opened myself up to new vehicles, considering that.

Carlton, how did you come to have both Bates Motel and The Returned, on the same night?

CUSE: They had acquired the remake rights of The Returned, and offered that to me. It was after I had already been working on Bates, and I started developing that show. My hope is that the audience for Bates will also really enjoy The Returned. I think it makes a lot of sense to put the two scripted shows on, back-to-back, on the same night. Obviously, I’m a little nervous and excited about it. I’m very proud of both of them, and I hope people will check them out.

Carlton, where do you see as the endgame for Bates Motel?

CUSE: It’s five seasons. Kerry and I have a pretty clear roadmap. We’re just finishing the third season, right now, and we feel pretty strongly that there are two more seasons in the show. We have a pretty clear plan of where we want to go, and we want to bring this story to its inevitable conclusion. I think Bates is not its best version, if it’s an open-ended series. The audience is waiting for the conclusion, and we’re heading there. We have that mapped out.

Bates Motel airs on Monday nights on A&E.