‘Brilliant Minds’ Star Teddy Sears on Nichols and Wolf Kissing

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “The Lovesick Widow,” the eighth episode of the first season of NBC’s “Brilliant Minds.”

Teddy Sears is the kind of character actor whose face is often more recognizable than his name. After making his professional acting debut in an episode of the daytime soap “One Life to Live” in 2001, the Maryland native has made a living jumping from guest role to guest role: on “Law & Order” (“SVU” and “Criminal Intent”), and, among others, “Mad Men,” “Chicago Fire,” and “Big Love.”

In between those short stints, Sears broke out as a womanizing doctor in the Showtime period drama “Masters of Sex,” as a national director of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit in Fox’s short-lived “24: Legacy” and as the DC Comics supervillain Zoom in The CW’s “The Flash.” In 2011, he landed a recurring role in “American Horror Story: Murder House,” marking the first of four collaborations with Ryan Murphy.

Now, more than a decade later, Sears has reunited with Zachary Quinto — who played his ghost husband in that first season of “AHS” — to play lovers again in the new NBC medical drama “Brilliant Minds.” Created by Michael Grassi (“Riverdale”), the series stars Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf, a modern-day version of the late British neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks. Sears plays Dr. Josh Nichols, an ex-military, gay neurosurgeon whose clinical and exacting nature is often at odds with Wolf’s more empathetic approach to treating patients.

In the season’s seventh episode, “The Man From Grozny,” Wolf, Nichols and their colleagues successfully implant a brain-machine interface in Roman (Alex Ozerov-Meyer) — a locked-in patient who is unable to move after a cycling accident, but can still form his own thoughts — to restore his ability to communicate. The doctors learn that Roman is an undocumented immigrant from Chechnya who moved to the U.S. to flee anti-LGBTQ persecution with his boyfriend, Alex (Mishka Yarovoy). But rather than subjecting Alex to a lifetime of caregiving, and much to the bewilderment of his doctors, Roman ultimately decides to end his own life.

During his final hours, Roman tells Wolf about how he wishes he could have kissed Alex in public without anyone caring — a heartfelt confession that leaves Wolf to rethink his own romantic life. So, after running into each other outside of the hospital one day, Wolf impulsively decides to kiss Nichols in the middle of the street, giving in to the long-simmering tension between them.

This Monday’s episode finds Wolf and Nichols navigating their mutual attraction, with the two locking lips in Wolf’s office and making out in the elevator like a couple of titillated teenagers — only to get caught by their boss and Wolf’s mother, Dr. Landon (Donna Murphy), who would actually prefer not to meddle in her son’s love life. Despite some miscommunication, Wolf and Nichols eventually agree to give dating a real shot.

“Wolf and Nichols are finally free to explore what they have growing between them,” Sears tells Variety. “They don’t know what it means, they don’t know where it’s going to go, and they’re playing that out against the backdrop of co-caring for patients and having disagreements about how that care should go. It’s a very interesting thing to explore and have audiences witness them grappling with.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Sears opens up about his approach to playing Nichols, the points of attraction and contention between his and Quinto’s characters — and the guest-starring roles from his past that still make him laugh.

So much of what viewers know about Nichols is seen through the eyes of Wolf. Did you establish any kind of backstory for him to get a better sense of why he moves through the world in the way that he does?

Prior to shooting, Michael, our showrunner, invited me to come and meet the writers in the Berlanti building at Warner Bros. It was during that meeting that [an idea] was floated to me: What if Josh had a military background and grew up not being able to be out publicly? And we were like, “That would’ve been in the ’90s, during ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” And that’s when it clicked for me: When choosing a surgical [specialty], those guys are already badasses, but why not try to be the best of the best? Why not go into neuro?

I don’t think one goes into surgery purely for ego. There’s a massive dedication to patient care, but I think it would be disingenuous to say that Josh’s upbringing didn’t spur him in that direction and make him want to be the best of the best.

The writers thankfully went that direction, and in Episode 5, we get to see a little bit of Josh’s military prowess and hear a little bit about how he ended up where he was. That was really fun for me, and it was a chance to let the audience a little bit in on his origin story and maybe gain a bit of compassion and understanding for, “Oh, I see why this guy can be prickly, and very ordered and very structured.”

Nichols was always positioned as a potential partner to Wolf, and it was pretty clear that their initial animosity underlied feelings of a different kind. How much of that romantic and sexual tension did you intentionally try to play with Zach earlier in the season?

Funnily enough, there was a scene in the pilot that was written and shot, and it didn’t end up being included, where, after their initial day meeting at work, Josh goes to Wolf’s office to say, “Listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Let me take you out for a drink.” We cut to them at a bar — they’re getting tipsy, and they’re talking about themselves. Nichols confesses to Wolf: “I know exactly who you are, because you’re known in the gay doctor community. There’s a mystique around you. We all know who you are.”

Because we didn’t include it, the audience won’t know this. But for me, I was thinking, “Oh, that’s a great backstory. I’ve heard of him. He’s a pain in the ass, and he is totally quirky and different, but who is this guy that just does it his own way? Who is this guy who swims in the Hudson River, lives on City Island and in the Bronx, and rides a motorcycle?” So I took that with me as we started to shoot scenes.

I would imagine that a part of how I personally feel about Zach came into it. I have such great respect and admiration for Zach as an actor, so there was probably a little bit of tension in just wanting to be good enough to be in scenes with him and to keep up with him. I don’t know that that’s leading the charge here, but I would imagine that’s got to be in the stew, if you will, of stuff that I bring to set when we work together.

In retrospect, when do you think there was a shift in Wolf and Nichols’ relationship? When did they begin to see each other in a different light?

I love that scene late at night in Episode 4 after Wolf has come down from his PCP high, and they’re sitting in the MRI room. They’re huddled around a monitor; they’re shoulder-to-shoulder. They’re talking about their own personal experiences as doctors and losing patients. Wolf’s a neurologist; Nichols is a neurosurgeon. They both have different ideas about patient care, but they both want what’s best for the patient. They don’t want to see someone die on their watch. They don’t want to miss anything and have it affect the life of someone they’re trying to care for. So that, to me, was a really neat moment of intimacy between the two.

Then [in Episode 5], we see Wolf and Nichols at the firing range, and it’s Wolf this time who is let behind the curtain a little bit and sees Josh in a bit of a different light. There’s a moment where we see a flicker of vulnerability when Josh is thinking about someone he had a special relationship with when he was in the military — and then the door shuts again, and it’s back to business as usual. So I think that there were moments, in addition to just palpable tension.

Josh’s like, “I don’t like you. You have a different approach to patients that’s so not by-the-book that it makes me uncomfortable.” I think that changes a bit at the end of the pilot where, after Wolf presents his path forward for our patient to reconcile with her children and manage her condition, Josh is sold in that moment, like, “Oh, this guy is as much of a badass as I heard him to be, and I gotta tip my hat. This guy’s good.”

We see a respect build, but I don’t think we’re free of that tension until the end of Episode 7 when Wolf takes that very bold step. By impulsively kissing Josh in the middle of the street, I think he frees himself of that tension, and that gives Josh permission to free himself of that tension and explore these beautiful teenage feelings that these two can suddenly feel for each other in Episode 8.

After Wolf kissed Nichols in Episode 7, the screen immediately cut to black. Episode 8 begins with the two stealing glances at each other during a morning department meeting — and Dr. Pierce (Tamberla Perry) even seems to notice a vibe between them, even though she doesn’t call Wolf out on it. Did Michael ever give you and Zach any information about what happened after that kiss?

Michael did not fill us in. He was always there to answer questions, but by and large, he had his head down breaking story and spinning all the plates that a showrunner needs to spin to keep the machine running on time. I remember thinking that Josh probably pulled away and thought, “What the hell just happened?” And then Wolf got on his bike and took off. I imagine it was not further explored after that first kiss. These two have clearly not talked about it. They don’t even know if the thing that just happened is a thing that’s ever going to happen again. But now, the feelings are out there. So what do you do with these feelings?

That’s really what Episode 8 is about. These two can’t keep their hands off each other. It’s wildly inappropriate in a work setting. It’s very throwing-caution-to-the-wind to just get that dopamine hit, only to be busted. You have Wolf — while extraordinarily bright and smart — being the heart-on-his-sleeve, empathic, compassionate, emotional guy. And you’ve got Josh, who is, by and large, cerebral, cerebral, cerebral — and all of that can keep a lid on the vulnerability, the tenderness.

That’s why Josh breaks it off with Wolf; it doesn’t make cerebral sense in the work setting. “You’re my boss’ son. This is unprofessional. This is us acting on our vulnerabilities, because of what happened with Roman.” There’s all of these things that make cerebral sense to Josh that he is warring with inside, because Josh’s identity, too, is: “I’m a player. I have casual relationships outside of work. It works for me. I don’t have time for anything real.” So I think Josh is also beginning to reconcile with a little bit of an identity component for himself as it pertains to having a relationship with only one person, let alone with somebody at work.

After Landon tells Nichols not to hurt her son, Nichols tries to break things off gently with Wolf. But Wolf later declares that he wants to give their relationship a shot, and it’s clear that Nichols wants to do the same. What did you want to convey in that final relieved look between your characters?

Zach has full days of work, and my stuff can be sporadically scheduled, depending on how much or how little I have to do in an episode. But that day, I was in all the scenes, and that was the last scene we were shooting. We’d done all the elevator stuff. We’d done some stuff eating Chinese food out of a box, talking about chopsticks. At the end of the day, what’s beautiful is that any tension is long gone to begin with, because we’ve been at it for so long.

I remember feeling very close to Zach, and feeling very like, “Oh, this is so simple. Forget all of the things that make sense in your head, Josh.” What’s underneath all of those very sensible reasons why they shouldn’t do this is  affection, respect, curiosity and relief. “I’m glad you said it, because that gives me permission to do what I really want to do, which is to explore this and honor the fact that I feel it, too.” And how often in life do we find someone who can match you, and the relief that comes with it, and the ability to say, “Screw it, let’s give this a shot”? This is what begins to happen in the back half of the season.

In addition to “Brilliant Minds,” you’re also joining the cast of Netflix’s “The Night Agent,” in which you’ll play a high-level intelligence officer who becomes the subject of a Night Action investigation. What can you preview about where the second season — premiering on Jan. 23 — picks up?

The season kicks off with [Gabriel Basso’s] Peter and his new partner, played by Brittany Snow, tracking my character in Bangkok, because something’s happened and they are convinced that I’m the reason for it. And following me, classic to “Night Agent” form, brings out a whole bunch of other characters — new characters — to the series that our heroes find themselves embroiled with and frankly confused by. Who are these people? Do they have anything to do with my character? What’s going on here? That is where we find ourselves in the first part of Season 2.

I did a deep dive into your IMDb page and noticed a couple things: You’re credited as “Fashion Show Guy” in a Season 4 episode of “Sex and the City,” and a clip of you playing a stripper on “Ugly Betty” and telling America Ferrera’s Betty, “You buy, I’m sexual,” recently went viral.

Oh my God! I forgot about that entirely! That went viral?! Oh boy. That was 2006. I remember them saying, “OK, you’re going to be this [other] character, but actually, you’re this smarmy stripper named Hunter.” And I was like, “Oh, shit. I better start doing pushups.” I also remember I had so much grease on me that we were shooting all that stuff and we had to break for lunch, and I didn’t want to sit down because I felt like I would’ve slid right out of my seat. I was in a Speedo with a cop hat, a holster, and I remember eating lunch standing up thinking, “Well, I’m not going to sit down because I’m just going to ruin the furniture.” But that’s so funny. I remember that line!

Is there a particular guest-starring role from your résumé that you still get a kick out of hearing or thinking about?

Well, outside of the line you just delivered to me, very rarely does someone notice me or stop me for any reason. And when they have, it’s been someone who watched “The Flash” who’s now older, which is always a lovely thing to get because that show had such a big impact on so many fans.

Personally, I loved being on “Studio 60.” Funnily enough, I was just in Washington D.C. for a “Brilliant Minds” event on the same weekend that “The West Wing” cast was going to go to the White House to be honored for the 25th anniversary of that show coming out. On the plane to D.C., I sat next to Emily Procter whom I was on “CSI: Miami” with for a couple episodes. In the hotel, I ran into Tommy Schlamme, whom I had to reintroduce myself to. I said, “Oh, I was on your series way back when.” On the way home, Aaron Sorkin was on the plane as well.

I had a chance to introduce myself to Aaron, because Aaron was in my audition. He read opposite me — talk about a different time. I was so nervous. I remember I didn’t uncross my arms the entire audition, and I played a baseball player named Darren Wells in the first few episodes of the [first and only] season. It’s a very strong memory, because I was 28 years old and I’d just gotten [to Los Angeles]. But I’d never watched “The West Wing.” I still haven’t seen it. I just knew that the cast was crazy, and I was pinching myself because I knew that Aaron Sorkin was a fabulous writer.

I also did some stuff on “Letterman” back in ’04 that I’m so proud of. This was when “Blind Justice” was on. It was a Steven Bochco series, and David Letterman just thought that the premise was one that he could really play around with. So I played a blind detective on his show, and we would do these sketches. He had me arresting a lamp, or driving on the sidewalk after a perpetrator, or busting one of those people who was selling fake handbags on Canal Street. We did it for quite a few weeks, and then he brought me back to play Batman. This was when the first “Batman” was coming back out in ’05, and a bunch of those never aired.

Listen, all I ever wanted to do was make a career. Once I got excited about acting — I was 23 when I started — I just wanted to do this for a living. I remember seeing trailers on the streets of New York when I lived there, feeling so jealous. I remember watching “13 Going on 30” and seeing Jen Garner doing a scene walking down Greenwich Street and just being like, “Oh, man, that must be awesome. I really hope I get to do that one day.” So I take such deep pride in being able to do this.

I’m not looking at you because I’m super bashful about it, but I’m also so proud, man. I mean, I’m talking to Variety about my career, and here’s to hoping in another 15, 20 years, there will be even more to talk about. I was just a kid trying to find his place in this world, and I like to think that maybe I have.

This interview has been edited and condensed.