Rihanna is to follow in the footsteps of the late Hollywood actress Janet Leigh by taking on the role she famously played in Psycho.

The pop superstar will star as Marion Crane in the final series of Bates Motel, the television prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1960 horror film.

In a video posted on Twitter, Rihanna, 28, revealed she was joining the cast of the show, which stars British actor Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates.

The Umbrella singer said: “I’m about to check into the Bates Motel very soon and guess what else? Guess who’s playing Marion?”

The programme, which has aired on the Universal channel in the UK, will end after the fifth season next year, its makers announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

Rihanna
Rihanna (Michael Zorn/AP)

Janet, who died in 2004 at the age of 77, earned a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her role in Psycho. The film was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.

Rihanna, who is currently touring Europe, will also appear as an exotic space dancer in the upcoming sci-fi film, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, opposite Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan.