NBC's New Medical Drama Brilliant Minds Says Mental Health Is Just as Important as Physical Health

Brilliant Minds is hoping to break the medical drama mold. The new NBC TV series, which premieres Monday, Sept. 23 at 10/9c, is inspired by the life and works of renowned neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks. Star Trek's Zachary Quinto headlines the series as Oliver Wolf, a New York doctor with prosopagnosia, better known as face blindness, who is on a mission to give his patients a holistic approach to their often incurable conditions. 

Series creator and executive producer Michael Grassi, whose previous credits include Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, hopes to showcase a different kind of hospital show that puts patients first and reveals a different way to approach medicine than we often see on TV. "I saw a tremendous opportunity to create a show about this empathetic doctor who goes above and beyond for his patients but also has a unique way of seeing the world and stepping into his patients' shoes," Grassi told TV Guide in a recent interview. 

In the summer of 2020, recent Emmy Governor's Award recipient Greg Berlanti approached the producer about adapting Sacks' work into a TV series. Grassi grew up as a fan of the Academy Award-nominated film Awakenings, which is also based on Sacks' work, and it didn't take him long to know Brilliant Minds was a show he had to make. 

"I started reading. I didn't stop reading. I basically soaked myself in everything Oliver Sacks, and I fell in love. I fell in love with Oliver Sacks. I fell in love with his writing, fell in love with his classes, his work, his life," Grassi revealed. 

Below, the producer reveals what fans can expect from this new medical drama and what exactly made Quinto the perfect person for this starring role. 

How are you creating the cases that Wolf and his team will tackle this season? Are they old Oliver Sacks cases, or are you finding more recent inspiration in the news?
Michael Grassi: We have access to two books and Oliver Sacks cases, so it's a mix. Some of our cases are Oliver Sacks cases — cases that we're taking and adapting to present day and making sure that they feel urgent. We have our own conversations about stuff that we want to talk about on our show. It's been a while since those cases were published, so we want to make sure that the medicine is accurate and present-day. Then we are also taking medical cases that aren't in those books but feel like they are in the spirit of Oliver Sacks. What's interesting is that [with] a lot of Oliver Sacks [cases], there often isn't a cure. You can't fix a lot of the issues that Oliver Sacks wrote about, but what's exciting is that our doctors can help these patients find a way forward or help them embrace a condition rather than suppress it. That feels fresh and exciting.

The character of Oliver Wolf is inspired by Sacks rather than based on him. What made Zachary Quinto your ideal Doctor Wolf?
Grassi: I always had Zach in mind. Zach has this quiet intelligence to him and his intellect. I feel like with every performance that Zach tackles, he always takes a big swing. Something about Oliver Sacks is the he took big swings with his patients. He would do huge things to help them, like take them on motorcycle rides or take them swimming. We've seen Zach play so much genre and we've seen him play so many villains. I was really excited to see him take on a character that really felt brand new for him that he has never done before. I think that his performance is incredible, and that's the thing I am most excited about for audiences to see.

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Can you elaborate on how face blindness is going to work in this series as Wolf meets new patients?
Grassi: He has prosopagnosia, which is face blindness, which makes it really difficult to recognize faces. He can see individual features. He can read expressions. Once he's met someone, he can recognize them by something very specific about them or potentially their gait, like how they walk or their voice. Once he meets someone and gets to know them, they're within a specific context; it's easy enough for him to recognize somebody. If it's not somebody he's expecting to see, I think that's where he can be a bit thrown. Based on our research, big crowds can be overwhelming and become stressful because you don't know who will be there and if someone you might need to recognize or not realize is there.

Emotionally, for Doctor Wolf, living with face blindness has made him pay closer attention and really look closely at his patients and see things that maybe other doctors might have missed. I think face blindness has manifested as a little bit of his life feeling like one big missed connection. Let's say he meets someone at a bar and thinks that they are attractive based on their specific features, and then the next day he could be on the street and walk right past them and not remember. That's something that lives with him every day.

Does that mean that we'll get to explore Wolf's personal life in this first season?
Grassi: When I think about Brilliant Minds, I think about it as equal parts character drama and then high stakes medical mystery. We will be digging into Wolf's personal life, as well as all of our doctors. Every episode, you get to know him a little bit more. Yes, maybe you will be getting some relationship stuff as his walls start to chip away and he starts to let people in. There are lots of surprises coming soon.

We see Wolf go swimming in the trailer, but I need you to explain the choice to have him go swimming in the Hudson River rather than at his local YMCA or something.
Grassi: Oliver Sacks famously swam in the Hudson River and the East River every day that he could. That's where he swam, and it's true to life. Obviously, I don't encourage anybody to do it because it is not safe in terms of getting hit by things that are in the river, but the water quality is surprisingly not dangerous. ... We really wanted to be true to that specificity of Oliver Sacks and honor him and his history of swimming in the Hudson River.

ALSO READ: Brilliant Minds on NBC: Release date, cast, trailer, and everything to know about the new series

The list of announced guest stars, including Mandy Patinkin, is already impressive. But you're a former producer on Degrassi: Next Generation, and you're filming in Toronto, so what are the chances we'll see Lauren Collins, Cassie Steele, or any of those alums in Doctor Wolf's office?
Grassi: I am a huge fan of Lauren Collins and Cassie Steele, and all of [the Degrassi alums] are amazing. If I could cast them in every role, I would. I really hope I get to work with them again. It is on the top of my priority list.

What are you hoping people take away from watching Brilliant Minds?
Grassi: My biggest hope is that we deliver on what people love about medical dramas, but in a way that feels brand new and for a very specific lens. I also hope that people can come to the show and find themselves in it, whether it's in the interns, doctors, or patients. One of the big things that I keep talking about is that I think, to some extent, everybody is sitting in this dining hall like us and dealing with our mental health in some capacity, in ways big and small. We know somebody who is suffering and I want people to be able to come to the show and feel like they're not alone. 

Brilliant Minds premieres Monday, Sept. 23 at 10/9c on NBC. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.