Rihanna lands starring role in final season of Bates Motel

The 28-year-old singer will play Marion Crane, the role Janet Leigh made famous in Psycho, it was announced on Friday at Comic-Con in San Diego, California.

Rihanna sent a special video message to the show's panel event, where she revealed her exciting new role in the fifth and final season of the drama series.

"Hello Comic-Con! It's bad girl Rih Rih and let me tell you what the bad b**ch is about to do," she exclaimed. "I'm about to check into the Bates Motel very soon. Guess what else? Guess who's playing Marion?"

Executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin said after the Comic-Con announcement, "We wanted to thrust the iconic role into a contemporary spotlight and redefine it in a meaningful and exciting new way. We also heard Rihanna was a fan of the show, and we were huge fans of hers, so it was the perfect collision of creativity and fate."

The Diamonds hitmaker, who made her acting debut in 2012's Battleship, is also set to star in sci-fi movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which is slated for release in July next year.

The Hollywood Reporter claims Grammy Award-winner Rihanna was offered the iconic Bates Motel role after sharing she was a fan of the show in a Vanity Fair interview.

Season four of the Psycho prequel series ended with Vera Farmiga's Norma Bates being killed off after son Norman, played by Brit actor Freddie Highmore, filled their house with carbon monoxide.

Vera is set to return for the final season of the show serving as an executive producer, while Freddie is due to pen his second episode of the series, alongside Cuse and Ehrin.

The final season of Bates Motel will go into production later this year and return in 2017.