Note: This story contains spoilers for the series premiere of “Brilliant Minds.”
In “Brilliant Minds,” Zachary Quinto is introduced as Dr. Oliver Wolf, a neurologist whose unique life and skills are loosely modeled on those of the acclaimed Oliver Sacks—right down to the complex relationships laid out in the NBC series’ pilot episode.
“It’s a contemporary take on that character, but not biographical,” showrunner Michael Grassi told TheWrap. “Oliver Sacks has lived such a… robust, incredible life and having that as an inspiration and a starting point was so helpful… in building this really fascinating character at the center of our medical series.”
Grassi drew on two of Sacks’ books – The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars – and drew inspiration from Sack’s prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, when designing Oliver’s character. The cognitive disorder, revealed in the first episode, causes problems in Oliver’s personal life but pushes him to think outside the box at work.
However, his unique way of thinking can sometimes backfire. After losing his job for escorting an Alzheimer’s patient out of the hospital to give him a tender moment with his family, his friend Dr. Carol Pierce (Tamberla Perry) offers him a job as a neurologist at Bronx General. He is initially hesitant to take the job, but is eventually drawn in by a fascinating case.
At the end of the episode, viewers learn why Oliver didn’t necessarily want to work at Brox General – the hospital’s director is his mother (Donna Murphy). The twist is inspired by Sacks’ real-life relationship with his mother, which he writes about extensively in his books.
“As we were developing this show, I thought it would be really interesting to tell her about a really deep, complex mother-son relationship at our hospital. As the series progresses, we’ll do a kind of deep investigation into why these two aren’t getting along at the moment and what went down,” Grassi said. The hint of their working relationship will reveal some “juicy” storylines.
Following the revelation of Oliver’s sexuality in the pilot episode, Brilliant Minds is one of the new television series to feature a gay lead character, something Grassi cites as one of the most exciting things about the creation of the show, especially at NBC.
“NBC has an incredible legacy of LGBTQ characters, and the one that comes to mind is my childhood when ‘Will & Grace’ came out,” Grassi said. “If I’m being completely honest, I don’t know if I would be sitting here – I don’t know where I would be today – if it weren’t for ‘Will & Grace’ – that kind of representation is really important.”
Although Grassi is grateful for the representation, he didn’t want Oliver’s sexuality to be “the focus of the show,” but rather just another part of him. He opted for his sexuality to be revealed in a casual conversation with Carol.
“That’s an important part of his character, but it’s not the only part,” Grassi said. “He’s so focused on his patients … he’s so concerned with helping patients live their lives to the best of their ability that, in some ways, he neglects to live his own.”
There could be a romance between Bronx General’s head of neurosurgery, Dr. Josh Nichols (Teddy Spears), and Oliver’s unconventional methods quickly get him into trouble. Since Quinto and Sears already played husbands in the first season of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, the duo have plenty of room to explore their characters’ rivalry.
“I’m very excited for viewers to see how different their views on medicine are, how they clash at Bronx General and maybe come together,” Grassi said, adding, “There’s a lot to explore in their relationship.”
Oliver’s views are also challenged by a group of young interns he takes under his wing, whose openness about mental health – right down to which SSRIs they take – gives the NBC series a certain Gen-Z spirit. That spirit came naturally to Grassi, having produced and written teen dramas such as “Riverdale,” “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” “Katy Keene” and “Degrassi: The Next Generation.”
“I’m growing up and writing for a more mature audience, but that also applies to the audience I used to write for, so I want to bring them along with me,” Grassi said. “I really hope that young viewers can also see themselves in this show and breathe new life into the medical drama in some ways.”
Because each episode focuses on a new case Oliver is dealing with, as well as developments in his personal life, Grassi considers the series equal parts “character drama” and “high-stakes medical mystery,” reflecting Sacks’ own work.
“A lot of what Wolf goes through in his personal life he brings to his cases, just like the real Oliver Sacks was really dedicated to his patients,” Grassi said. “His most important question as a doctor was always, ‘How are you? What are you thinking?’ and I think our Oliver Wolf does the same thing.”
As viewers reconstruct Oliver’s past in flashbacks and he looks for a way forward for himself and his patients, Grassi hinted that Season 1 will be an “exciting journey” with “some funny twists and exciting surprises.”
“Brilliant Minds” premieres Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
