Bates Motel has been such a big hit for A&E that the critically acclaimed series is even getting its own live aftershow, dubbed Bates Motel: After Hours. That’s an honor previously reserved for megahit shows like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad—good company to be in if you’re Bates Motel. The reason for all the fuss is, primarily, the incredibly strong cast led by Vera Farmiga (nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her work on the show) and Freddie Highmore as Norma and Norman Bates. The show finds just the right mix of humor, oddball drama, and Twin Peaks-esque weirdness to fit perfectly into the world of the Bates family established in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Parade sat down with Farmiga to discuss the show’s second season (which premieres tonight at 9 PM on A&E), her family, and her career path prior to acting.

Were you nervous or reluctant at all when A&E came to you with this idea, since its roots are in such a long-standing, beloved property?

Yes. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to it. The skeptic in me was on guard. And that’s only because there’s so many things that can go wrong. Of course, as soon as Freddie Highmore was solidified as Norman Bates, all of that fear and skepticism went out the window. I saw his audition tape and it blew me away. I kept saying, “Okay, look, it’s not unusual, the concept of writer’s debt. Everyone borrows characterizations and plot points from the past. There would be no Batman sequel in theaters if they didn’t.”

The cast of Bates Motel (Courtesy of A+E Networks)

And the show is different enough from the source material anyway, right?

For me, the very simple premise of this show is this very intimate exploration of the love between a mother and her two sons. An estranged older son and a younger, extremely sensitive atypical son with neuro-dysfunction. That story became, to me, the point of it all. [As far as b]eing tethered to the original Psycho… if the show works, I think people can forgive the fact that it started with that seed. I know we’re demanding a lot from the audience to set it in contemporary times. At the same time, I think that also gives us the freedom of exploration. Ultimately, when I saw Freddie’s audition tape, the bottom line to me was that this was a raucous, joyful tribute exalting this iconic Norma Bates that, in reality, no one knows anything about her except through Norman’s fractured psyche. She loves this alien offspring of hers with molten force, and Freddie’s performance in that audition tape was just so good. There was just no question. Without a doubt, I wanted that collaboration with him.

You hadn’t done TV in quite a long time.

Yeah, it had been about ten years. This is a privilege for me because the three television shows that I had done (Roar, UC Undercover, and Touching Evil) had never gone beyond thirteen episodes (a single season). So this is fun, [to have] a second season and to be able to go so deep with character exploration and to hone it. It’s wild, though, and sometimes frustrating for me, to see how a character unfolds and changes over the course of a TV narrative. It’s kind of impossible to dig super-deep initially with a new character in serial television because you don’t have all the answers. That’s why, to me, the second season is much deeper work. You’re such great friends with your castmates, so you can play with each other more because you’ve already established those friendships and connections and the trust, but also because you have the luxury of also seeing [the show] edited. The tone is something that I feel I’m still honing because the show balances multiple tones in its writing. It shifts really seamlessly from oddball dark comedy to verging on melodrama to psychological thriller, family drama, and horror. The coordination and choreography of these multiple tones requires a lot of fancy footing and it’s cool to be able to see them edited together and say, “Oh, okay. I’m not going to do that anymore,” or “Oh, I should turn up the dial on that color or that style.”

Vera Farmiga as Norma Bates in Bates Motel (Courtesy of A+E Networks)

There’s a moment in the first episode of season two where the sun is shining, you’re wearing bright colors and bopping down the sidewalk, and the motel is packed. Was that a nice change from all the darkness and rain?

Totally. This is what I love about Norma: We know that she’s got these really poisonous feelings embedded so deep in her psyche, but at the same time she’s got this ready wit and this lively charm. Her coping mechanism is her perseverance. I love seeing her in that. I think she’s got this burial chamber or vault that’s really deep inside her where she buries all that torment and sadness and stress. She’s shoved all the torment from last season deep inside this convenient vault, and she’s got this beautiful, fresh outlook on life.

I think Norma has a huge heart—sometimes maybe too big.

Yes, thank you! This is what I’m striving to create. I’m constantly trying to see her in the light that she’s being strong and a valiant Mama Bear. She’s got a wickedly complex life within her. She’s an abuse victim and she’s untreated, so this becomes chronic and it weaves itself in and out of her life. For her, the saying that “time heals all wounds” is crap. [Laughs] It doesn’t with Norma, especially in the way that she has dealt with it. I think she has an uber-generous heart. Her story sort of shares that frustration and joy of being a single parent raising a neurologically atypical child. All she has as a parent is her instincts, and she genuinely believes that she’s doing the right thing for her child. Sure, she tends to keep Norman wrapped up in bubble wrap, but we all do as mothers to some degree. Maybe that’s sending some unintentional message to Norman that he’s incompetent, but it’s really tough.

Vera Farmiga & Freddie Highmore as Norma & Norman Bates in Bates Motel (Courtesy of A+E Networks)

I talked to your sister Taissa (American Horror Story) back in November and she told me that she was the most nervous she’s ever been when she had to do her big scene with you in At Middleton. She just wanted to impress you.

Is that true? Man, she hides it. It’s so funny. She was so carefree. [Laughs] Really? She must just rise above it, because I didn’t sense that at all. And you know what? We’re all nervous. I continually get nervous for all my scenes. It doesn’t get any easier for me. Taissa is such a bright supernova. She’s so beautiful. She’s a stellar explosion of beauty and grace and raw emotion, and I see it growing. She’s so special. I’m really, really proud of her.

Would you consider doing a guest spot on American Horror Story to get to work with her on that show?

Oh, totally. Yes, absolutely. In every capacity, yes. Of course. I love that show. I know I’m totally biased, but I love it.

Wikipedia tells me that you originally wanted to be an ophthalmologist. Do you ever wonder what that life would have been like if you took that path instead of the one you chose?

[Laughs] Oh, gosh. As a kid, I wanted to wear glasses. I had ace vision. I went through this really weird stage of attention-seeking. It was the strangest desire, but I just wanted glasses so bad. Little things like that build up in your head and [eventually, as a young adult] I wanted to go to Villanova to study optometry and it just coincided with my first heartbreak. I was sitting there forlorn and heartbroken when some friend asked me to try out for the school play. I got the lead role and I was encouraged by my peers and professors to do it from then on. It wasn’t even my idea. And so it began.

I’d say it worked out pretty well for you.

Yeah, so far so good. [Laughs]

Bates Motel returns for its second season premiere tonight at 9 PM on A&E.

* Be sure to check out the March 16 issue of Parade Magazine for more with Vera Farmiga!