ground you could cover in television...The ingenuous structure worked both as drama and metaphor. The emotional and psychological mapping of the characters conversed with the show's more elusive map, the one that would get the castaways off the island." Bates Motel (2013–2017) Cuse was the creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer with Kerry Ehrin of the A&E series Bates Motel, which premiered on March 18, 2013, on the A&E Network. The series was described as a "contemporary prequel" to the 1960 film Psycho and follows the formative years of Norman Bates and his relationship with his mother, Norma, prior to the events portrayed in the Hitchcock film. The first season received critical praise, with Vera Farmiga (Norma Bates) being nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2013. The series followed Cuse and Ehrin's original plan to run for five seasons of 10 episodes each for a total of 50 episodes. An episode of Bates Motel in season 4, entitled "Forever", written by Cuse with Kerry Ehrin, made The New York Times list of memorable 2016 TV episodes and The Hollywood Reporters list of the best 2016 TV episodes. For its final season, Bates Motel also won 2017 People's Choice awards for Favorite Cable Drama, and Favorite Actor and Actress for Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga. In the fifth and final season, Cuse himself appeared in a cameo role, opposite R&B superstar Rihanna, as a highway patrol officer. Both Seasons 4 and 5 of Bates Motel have certified fresh, 100% perfect ratings on the rating site, Rotten Tomatoes. The Strain (2014–2017) Cuse was showrunner, executive producer, developer, and writer of The Strain, an FX drama series based on the vampire novel trilogy by co-authors Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Del Toro co-wrote and directed the pilot episode. The Strain premiered on July 13, 2014. Cuse made his directorial debut with The Strains third-season finale. Cuse and del Toro decided to end the series after the fourth season of their own accord, feeling it was the right time to bring the story to a close on their own terms. "The idea was always to do three seasons of the show when we sold it. Going into season four, it really felt like we needed to increase the storytelling velocity and finish the story." The 4th and final season has a 100% rating on