TVLine Podcast: Dream Emmy Q&A With Bates Motel's Freddie Highmore 

To those of you who thought the best thing about your Monday was going to be getting it over with — surprise! Today marks the launch of The TVLine Podcast! And we’re kicking things off with a series of extended interviews with a select group of our Dream Emmy nominees.

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Taking the hot seat for its inaugural spin is Freddie Highmore, who admitted to TVLine’s Michael Ausiello the day after the series finale of

 aired that bringing to life both “psycho” Norman and Mother in Season 5 was nearly enough to drive him… well, crazy. “It kind of plays with your head a little bit, [since] not only was Norman taken over by Mother, but then that Mother character was pretending to be Norman… [so at times, instead of channeling Vera Farmiga,] you end up mimicking your own performance. It was bizarre.”

Over the course of the Q&A, Highmore also revealed what he and Farmiga never did on

’ spooktacular set that he wished they had, underscored the importance of the show’s humor (yes,

) and, though at that time it had yet to be ordered to series by ABC, shared his high hopes for his new medical drama,

it in his charming British accent. To do so, press PLAY on the widget below. And to ensure you don’t miss a single installment of The TVLine podcast, head over to iTunes and subscribe!

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Looking forward to listening! Rookie podcast question – will it be available to listen on other non-itunes platforms, like Stitcher?

I second Jen’s rookie podcast question. Going forward, the podcasts will NOT be available on TVLine itself? So, this first podcast is here just to introduce the idea?

I like podcasts and listen at the gym and in my car. My preferred podcast app is Overcast because you can listen before it’s downloaded and you can set the speed of playback. I have mine set at 1.5 which cuts out a lot of dead air space but doesn’t distort so you get through them faster. I just subscribed to TVLine and am looking forward to it.

Finally!! I have been waiting for you guys to start a podcast since you started this site. I loved listening to the podcast Michael and Matt were on when they were with TV Guide. That seems like a lifetime ago and in the very early days of podcasting. Since then i’ve fallen down a rabbit hold of podcasts, but i’m always looking for new entertainment based podcasts to add to my ever growing list of shows. i’ll be subscribing post haste.

Just subscribed! Looking forward to being surprised each week with the topic/celebrity.

I’m gonna cry so hard when he gets snubbed on Emmy nominations morning. He should be winning. No one has given better performance than him this year.

One of the very fist podcasts I ever listened to was the old TV Guide one with Mike Ausiello so looking forward to getting a new one!

Will this podcast be available on Google Play Music? Please tell me it will be! Lol

What a lovely interview :). I like how generous Freddie Highmore is in praising his castmates and the crew for helping to make “Bates Motel” so successful, and how thoughtful he is about Norman’s journey and character development throughout the series. It’s sweet to hear how much the show meant to him, and how close he remains to everyone involved, especially Vera Farmiga. That team spirit certainly came through on “Bates Motel”, and that’s one of the many reasons I loved the show.

I also fully agree with his thoughts about the use of humor. I have an appreciation for offbeat, warped humor, and this show definitely did a great job of incorporating that into the show.

Here’s hoping “The Good Doctor” is a success-it’d be great to see Highmore have another well-received show under his belt. And continuing to hope he gets some recognition at the Emmys this year, too. Thanks for sharing this-perfect way to kick off this podcast series!

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