Gabby Dawson, a lead character since the beginning in the NBC drama "Chicago Fire," exited the series in dramatic fashion -- leaving her job, her home and her husband in order to do hurricane-recovery work in Puerto Rico. The actress, on the other hand, left the show for a pretty mundane reason.

"It's time for me to move on to the next chapter in my life," Monica Raymund said in an official statement on her Twitter feed. Translation: she wants bigger roles.

It's a mundane reason from the perspective of viewers, who see this fairly often with long-running ensemble shows, but it's anything but mundane for Raymund, because she's already landed just such a role.

She'll play the lead in a prestige drama series on premium cable -- the real big league for actors nowadays. She is booked to play a lesbian (that's important to the plot, I promise) fisheries officer who stumbles on a murder tied to the opioid epidemic in her city in the Starz drama "Hightown."

It has a lot of quirky details that make it perfect for pay cable -- such as the fact that she's a fisheries officer instead of a cop (or a firefighter), and the fact that it's set in "the gay mecca of Provincetown, Massachusetts."

All this adds up to a pretty good reason for leaving even a hit show like "Chicago Fire" -- from the actress's perspective, at least.

Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided.