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Zachary Quinto Explains the Origins of Brilliant Minds in New Behind-the-Scenes Look
Dr. Oliver Sacks and his team of interns take on medical mysteries in Brilliant Minds.
Zachary Quinto, the star of Brilliant Minds, took viewers behind the scenes of the upcoming NBC medical drama in a new video. In it, he introduces audiences to his character Dr. Oliver Wolf, a neurologist working at Bronx General Hospital with an unorthodox worldview and bedside manner. He also sheds light on the real-life inspirations behind the series, and what he hopes audiences will relate to when Brilliant Minds premieres on September 23.
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“This is a character that’s a little bit different than what people know me for, and I’m excited to expand peoples’ ideas of the kinds of characters that I can play,” Quinto says. While two of his best-known characters — Heroes’ serial-killer supervillain Sylar and Spock from the Star Trek films — have some similarities to Dr. Wolf in that they also see the world in unique ways, Dr. Wolf is a much more grounded and kind character.
Dr. Wolf is also, as Quinto explains, based on a real person.
“It’s inspired by a real-life person, Dr. Oliver Sacks, who was a renowned neurologist who dedicated his life to his patients,” Quinto says of Brilliant Minds. In addition to sharing Sacks’ insightful, empathetic approach to medical care, Dr. Wolf also suffers from prosopagnosia, a condition better known as face blindness, which Oliver Sacks lived with as well.
RELATED: Understanding Face Blindness: Seeing Through the Eyes of Brilliant Minds' Dr. Wolf
“The idea of a show that’s specifically focused on mental health and neurological issues is really unique to me,” Quinto says, adding that the themes of the show speak to “the universal experience from an audience standpoint.”
“This is a show that is bringing to audiences experiences that they’re going through and doing it with optimism and passion,” Quinto concludes. I feel deeply connected to telling stories right now that actually offer some sense of what brings us together as opposed to what separates us.”
The series will follow Dr. Oliver Wolf, a revolutionary, larger-than-life neurologist, and his team of interns as they explore the last great frontier — the human mind — while grappling with their own relationships and mental health. The cases in the show are inspired by Dr. Oliver Wolf Sacks' (1933-2015) real-life brain disorder research and treatment, some of which he chronicled in his non-fiction books The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1985) and An Anthropologist on Mars (1995).
When does Brilliant Minds premiere?
Brilliant Minds premieres on NBC on September 23 at 10/9c. Brilliant Minds will be preceded by the premiere of Season 26 of The Voice with new Coaches Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé at 8/7c.
