Q: I’m fascinated by “Mr. Robot” star Rami Malek. What’s his background?

— Susan Davies, Newport News, Virginia

A: The Los Angeles native and recent Emmy winner had a number of credits, in television (“The Pacific,” “24,” “Gilmore Girls”) and movies (“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2,” “Battleship,” the “Night at the Museum” trilogy) — and even in video games (“Halo 2,” “Until Dawn”) — before landing his current USA Network part that has brought him name/face recognition and a Critics’ Choice Television Award as well as his Emmy.

“Mr. Robot” will be back for Season 3 in 2017, and Malek has a big film role in his future, too. He’s been signed to succeed Dustin Hoffman as Louis Dega, the prison sidekick to Henri Charriere (to be portrayed by Charlie Hunnam, in Steve McQueen’s earlier part), in a remake of the 1973 movie “Papillon” that’s slated to be filmed next year. And in case you ever think you see Malek in person, it could be his brother instead; he has an identical twin named Sami.

Q: Eric McCormack played a professor on the show “Perception.” It didn’t seem to have an ending. Will it be coming back, or is it over?

— Elayne Eskenazi, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

A: It’s over. TNT canceled the series in late 2014, and the rest of its third and final season was shown early in 2015. Its first season was released on DVD in 2013 … and we only can deduce that it wasn’t a big or even moderate seller, since the remaining two seasons have yet to debut on disc.

Q: Can you tell me if “The Mysteries of Laura” will be back for Season 2? It was my favorite show.

— Dave Bonwell, West Unity, Ohio

A: This week’s column bears unfortunate tidings about shows with former “Will & Grace” stars. Debra Messing’s “Laura” was canceled last spring after its second season, which it earned largely because the first one turned out to be such a surprise ratingswise for NBC. Its numbers stayed consistent and reliable, but the network had a surplus of drama pilots to consider for the just-started season, and that likely contributed to “Laura” — whose ratings level pretty much had been established — reaching the end of its road.

Q: What was behind the attempted attack on Ryan Lochte in the “Dancing With the Stars” season premiere?

— Jonathan Green, via email

A: After the incident that followed Lochte’s first dance with professional partner Cheryl Burke, one of the two men — who were tackled by security personnel, and said they had attended the Olympics in Rio and felt like “targets” as Americans after Lochte dialed back his claim of having been robbed there — expressed the belief that the swimmer “embarrassed Americans on the world’s stage, and this was our form of protesting against that.”

The men wore T-shirts that showed Lochte’s name crossed out, and other protesters — who were told to leave the studio by dancer Derek Hough — also were present in that night’s audience. In the aftermath of the situation, BBC Worldwide Productions said the company would conduct a full review of its security procedures and protocols for the show.

Q: I’m glad to see “The Wild Wild West” back on Me-TV. Was Robert Conrad asked to be in the movie version that starred Will Smith?

— Greg Weaver, West Palm Beach, Florida

A: He reportedly was, to play the role of … but he was very much against the 1999 film, one likely reason being the share of the merchandising proceeds that he said he was due contractually, but never was paid. He also is said to have had an unhappy past with Jon Peters, a producer of the film.

Conrad may have gotten his ultimate revenge when he appeared at the Golden Raspberry Awards, alias the “Razzies,” to accept every “worst” award that was given to the film. He got plenty of stage time then; it won (if that’s the right word) for worst picture, worst director, worst screenplay, worst original song (though Smith had a huge hit with it) and worst screen couple (Smith and Kevin Kline).

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