Monica Raymund appeared in the season premier of “Chicago Fire” in order to wrap up the character before stepping away from the show permanently.(NBCUniversal Media/Submitted photo)

Q: I was pleasantly surprised to see Monica Raymund as Gabby Dawson in the season premiere of “Chicago Fire,” since I thought she was leaving the show. Is she?

— Ryan Field, via email

A: She is. She came back to the NBC drama in last month’s season premiere to wrap up the character and give closure to Dawson’s marriage with Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer). Technically, they’re still married as this column is being written … but with the two characters being in such vastly different places now, figuratively and literally, that probably will run its natural course sooner than later.

Raymund definitely has other irons in the fire on both sides of the camera. She’s one of this season’s directors on NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” having been chosen as one of the 10 finalists in the network’s Female Forward initiative. And on the acting front, she has the central role in “P-Town,” a forthcoming Starz drama series with the opioid crisis as a thematic undercurrent.

Q: “The Son” was supposedly renewed by AMC, but I have not seen a date for its second season. Is it coming back?

— David Weissleder, Lake Worth, Florida

A: It’s more than “supposedly.” The Pierce Brosnan-starring series did get an order for a season two that had been announced to premiere sometime this year, but as of this writing — and with the end of 2018 closing in — that start date still had not been confirmed.

The show went back into production in Austin, Texas, late last year. Among cast members added for its sophomore round are Lois Smith (“Lady Bird,” “Twister”), Jeremy Bobb (“Godless”) and Duke David Roberts (“Justified”).

Q: It’s good to see Vicki Lawrence back in “The Cool Kids.” How long was her show “Mama’s Family” on the air?

— Helen Stanley, Norman, Oklahoma

A: As its own series — after being featured as a recurring sketch on Carol Burnett’s variety shows — the comedy had two seasons on NBC from 1983 to 1984. It then resumed in first-run syndication from 1986 to 1990 and was a substantial hit, but accounts cite Lawrence as wanting to end the show after reaching the 100-episode threshold that would make it viable to be sold in syndicated reruns. Still, she has dipped back into the “Mama” Thelma Harper character in stage appearances and in ads for “Mama’s Family” being shown on MeTV.

Q: Who played the fellow who showed up at Rebecca’s door with flowers at the end of the season premiere of “This Is Us”?

— Jodie Beckett, via email

A: The mustache might have thrown some people, but it’s Hunter Parrish, known to viewers of such series as “Weeds,” “Quantico,” “The Following” and “Good Girls Revolt.” He’s also familiar to fans of “It’s Complicated” as Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin’s son in the 2009 movie.

Q: Had Jim Carrey done any other television work between “In Living Color” and his new series “Kidding”?

— Jeff Bruce, Glen Burnie, Maryland

A: He did some series guest shots on “The Office,” “30 Rock” and “Drunk History” — but otherwise, it principally was feature film work for Carrey over the 17 intervening years. One of those films, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” introduced Carrey to director Michel Gondry  …  with whom he has worked again on Showtime’s “Kidding.”

Q: What’s the background of the actress who’s playing the new Higgins on “Magnum P.I.”?

— Ken Dickinson, Buffalo, New York

A: Welsh actress Perdita Weeks has done a considerable amount of television overseas, but in America, she likely was best-known for her roles in “The Tudors” (as Mary Boleyn) and “Penny Dreadful” prior to her succeeding John Hillerman in CBS’ new version of “Magnum.” However, she also had a prominent role earlier this year in the Steven Spielberg-directed movie “Ready Player One,” with “As Above, So Below” among the other films to her credit.

Q: Someone told me that Kristen Bell was the voice of Gossip Girl on “Gossip Girl.” Is that true?

— Jane Morris, via email

A: It is. That fact becomes even more interesting in the context of the entire series, since it was revealed in the end that the writer of the blog titled “Gossip Girl” was Dan Humphrey, the character played by Penn Badgley (who’s currently in the Lifetime series “You”).

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