By JUDY SLOANE

Front Row Features

HOLLYWOOD-Inspired by the books of world-famous author and physician Oliver Sacks, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” and “An Anthropologist on Mars,” NBC’s new drama “Brilliant Minds” follows revolutionary neurologist Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto) as he and his team of interns help patients with mental disorders while grappling with their own relationships and mental health.

Zachary Quinto first became known to audiences in 2006 as Sylar in the NBC series “Heroes.” He went on to portray Spock in J.J. Abrams reboot of the “Star Trek” franchise and was nominated for an Emmy for his appearance in TV’s “American Horror Story.”

Michael Grassi (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” “Riverdale,”) who won a Peabody Award for his episode of “Degrassi,” is the creator/showrunner/executive producer of “Brilliant Minds, which premieres on September 23, 2024, on NBC at 10 pm, ET/PT.

Zachary Quinto came to the TV Critics Association this summer to talk with the journalists about his new drama series.

Q: Did you base the character of Dr. Wolf on Oliver Sacks?

Zachary Quinto: The wonderful thing about “Brilliant Minds” is that it’s inspired by the life of Dr. Oliver Sacks. Michael and I always talk about the fact that he’s ultimately our North Star. He was an incredible, complex, inspirational, and influential doctor and person. And so, it’s this very unique alchemy for me where I get to play a character who is inspired by a real-life person, but I’m not tethered to the period or the behavior of that person in real life. I get to take all of the rich tapestry of who Oliver Sacks was and inform the creation of Oliver Wolf, but Oliver Wolf exists in his own world.

Q: You came to prominence through another NBC show, “Heroes.” Does this feel like a homecoming?

Zachary Quinto: The irony of that is that “Heroes” was the job that changed my life and my career 15 years ago here on NBC. So it really does feel like coming home in a way.

“Heroes” was a show that the entire inciting incident was about a solar eclipse awakening people’s powers and awakening people’s sense of what they could accomplish in their lives. And we started filming “Brilliant Minds” on April 8, the day of the solar eclipse. So there was also this connection back to “Heroes” in another way entirely, which made me feel like there was something bigger at play here.

Q: You’ve played a lot of dangerous characters, are we going to see your dark side of Dr. Wolf over the episodes?

ZACHARY QUINTO: I think that there is a complexity to Wolf.  I don’t know how I would classify it as darkness or not, but he’s a complicated person. He struggles with aspects of how to relate to the world himself.  And there’s something very universal about that.  He’s someone who’s committed to helping other people and through helping other people, he oftentimes learns how to help and how to dig deeper within himself. You will see that journey and the conflicts that come up. But he is a character who is always driven by a sense of compassion and a sense of encouraging his patients to find their dignity.

Q: What kind of training did you do for this? Do you have a closet full of medical stuff that you had to learn?

Zachary Quinto: In terms of the medical side of the show, we have an incredible team of advisors and consultants.  We have an emergency room doctor who’s on the writing staff who lends an air of authenticity to everything that we’re doing on the medical side of the show.  And on set, we have a phenomenal team of nurses and advisors who come in and walk us through specific procedures and if there’s a big sequence that is a medical event. Oftentimes we’ll come in and have medical rehearsals separate from rehearsals on the day so that we can understand how to lend some verisimilitude to those experiences for audiences.

Q: It’s mentioned that in Sacks’ life he was celibate and didn’t really acknowledge that he was gay to himself until much later.

Zachary Quinto:  Till later in life, yeah.

Q: I didn’t think the official recognition was as big a thing as it was in the show.  Do you feel it was a big part of his life?

Zachary Quinto: Huge part of his life. To play an openly gay character on a primetime network show is an incredibly significant honor for me.  I feel deeply grateful for this experience to tell these stories and to use Oliver Sacks’ life as the origin point for those stories.

Oliver Sacks was somebody who was deeply influenced by the time in which he came of age and the social restrictions on people being able to live fully who they were. He didn’t come out until much later in life. He ended up meeting a partner and having a happy relationship till the end of his life.

To play a character who is embracing that aspect of himself in the modern world and in a way that is vital and contemporary and forward looking is really special.

Q: Is it difficult to extricate yourself emotionally when you take on these stories?

Zachary Quinto: It’s not. If I live half as robust a life as Oliver Wolf lived, I’ll be lucky. So for me, it’s not about having to extricate myself from anything because it feeds me. It feeds me as an actor, and it feeds me as a person. I feel like it’s the best opportunity, creatively and professionally, to show up to work and to be inspired by the character I’m playing and the stories I’m telling in a way that is significant, substantive and meaningful to me, and, hopefully, more importantly maybe to audiences.

I’m grateful to be on a show, at this time in the world, that has a message of hope, a message of how we’re similar more than how we’re different; what brings us together instead of what pulls us apart. That to me feels vital right now, and that’s a particular gift for me to be a part of these kinds of stories that hopefully will inspire people and will make people feel like no matter what adversity might be confronting them, that there’s a way through it, and there’s a way to a brighter time and a brighter life.