In Psycho IV, the time is five years after III, and Norman is out of the hospital. He's a married man, and he's finally learned how to love somebody and have natural sex without killing his lover.

The Outer Limits
Stefano was a producer for the first season of The Outer Limits and wrote a total of 12 episodes. Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) interestingly posits the origins of Norman Bates' destructive mother-love featuring Olivia Hussey as Mrs. In the book Writing with Hitchcock Stefano said that Hitchcock held a grudge over his being unavailable to write the screenplay for Marnie.

Joseph William Stefano (May 5 1922 – August 25 2006) was an American screenwriter known to genre fans for adapting Robert Bloch's novel for Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho and for being the producer and co-writer of the Outer Limits TV series.