Zachary Quinto returned to primetime in the 2024 TV schedule as star of NBC’s newest medical drama, and Brilliant Minds won’t be confused with other shows in the genre like Chicago Med, Grey’s Anatomy, and (certainly not) Doctor Odyssey. With a focus on neurology and based on the work of real-life author and neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, the new show presented a chance for Quinto to step away from the kinds of characters he’s played on shows like Heroes and American Horror Story. The actor opened up to CinemaBlend about that evolution and what attracted him to Brilliant Minds.
Quinto plays Dr. Oliver Wolf, a brilliant neurologist who struggles with prosopagnosia, a.k.a. face blindness, but doesn’t let anything stop him from fighting for his patients even when that means bending the rules to the point of breaking them. His unconventional approach brought him to Bronx General Hospital in New York, working alongside his friend Dr. Carol Pierce and for his mother. All in all, nobody who watches will confuse Quinto as Wolf for him as Sylar on the original Heroes!
When I spoke with Zachary Quinto about his new NBC show (which you can stream with a Peacock subscription), he shared what drew him to Brilliant Minds as a more grounded show compared to his other major TV gigs and the Star Trek franchise as Spock:
First of all, the idea that it’s based on Oliver Sacks, a real-life, inspiring, incredible, complicated person. That was a real appeal for me. Also getting to work with Michael Grassi, who, from our very first conversation, I could tell was a true collaborator and a true partner in this project, and that was something that was really exciting to me. And I also think that there is something for me about playing a character [like this]. I’ve played a lot of dark and really twisted and really not only complicated but morally questionable characters in my career, and they’ve been really fun by and large. I really enjoyed those experiences, but I’ve evolved in a lot of ways, as an actor and as a person.
As the creator and showrunner of Brilliant Minds, Michael Grassi brought plenty of TV experience thanks to his work as a producer on projects including Supergirl, Riverdale, and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. For Quinto, getting to show how he’s evolved by playing Dr. Oliver Wolf was another major attraction. While he hasn’t exactly been typecast on TV as “dark and really twisted,” the new series allows him to explore some new directions as an actor. He went on:
This project and this character reflect that evolution in my work and in my life. I think there’s no mistake that I’m actually playing a character now who is much more rooted in a sense of compassion and faith in humanity, and those are qualities that I’ve stepped into more in my own experience over the last few years. I also love that I’m part of a show that’s putting a positive message out into the world and inviting audiences in from a place of hope and optimism and light. And I think right now in particular, that is an especially gratifying kind of project to be a part of.
As 2024 winds down, can anybody argue against Zachary Quinto’s point that right now is a good time for “hope and optimism and light” in primetime? For the Brilliant Minds star, another standout element of making Season 1 was one that few actors get to experience with a network TV project. When asked how much of the season finished filming before the premiere on September 23, Quinto confirmed that they “finished all of it” by the middle of August, when they’d been shooting “up in Toronto” since March. He went on:
It was a wonderful experience to be in that creative vacuum in the first season. We were making the show with each other and for each other, and then now we get to share it with people and find out what people are responding to, and what’s working, what is drawing people in. But we didn’t have to worry about any of that while we were making it. It’s such a nice feeling in the first season of a show when you have that experience to not be influenced by people’s reactions or expectations, but rather to tell the story and find the most resonant narratives for that story and then share it with people. Now it’s a completely different experience or different phase of the experience.
It remains to be seen if that’s something that Brilliant Minds would be able to recreate in a second season, but viewers will need to tune into the first to guarantee a future for Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf and Tamberla Perry as Dr. Carol Fierce. The two stars did a chemistry read together for their roles, so it should be safe to say that theirs is a dynamic to continue looking forward to.
Check out Brilliant Minds on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following the latest episodes of The Voice. If you missed the premiere or just prefer streaming to watching live on Monday nights, you can find episodes next day streaming on Peacock.