Brilliant Minds, starring Zachary Quinto, premieres this fall on NBC! (What to know)

NBC has not one but two new medical-based offerings on the Fall TV slate for 2024. But, if you're not interested in the belly laughs that St. Denis Medical is set to bring you, or you want a bit of drama with your inquiries into a patient's health emergency, you're going to want to tune into Brilliant Minds. The program, formerly dubbed Dr. Wolf, brings Zachary Quinto back to the network since his two episode arc on Hannibal in 2015.

Quinto stars as Dr. Oliver Wolf, a neurologist who--with his team of interns--focuses on case work that centers on the human mind. The character is described as "revolutionary, larger-than-life" and the series will also explore the medical professionals' lives, relationships, and mental health. This medical drama sounds like it'll be right up the alley of fans of New Amsterdam. However, it's going to hit a little closer to reality.

Brilliant Minds is based on a true story

While Oliver Wolf isn't a real person, his characterization is based on the real life work of Dr. Oliver Sacks, a British neurologist known to be a naturalist and a science historian. Deadline reports Brilliant Minds draws inspiration from two of his books The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars which are comprised of case studies that depict the curious neurological disorders of his patients and how they sometimes coincide with artistic and creative ability.

Sacks was a gifted writer and was described by The New York Times as a "poet laureate of contemporary medicine." His work has been adapted into plays, films, and for television. It's likely the medical drama will also draw references from Sacks' autobiography On the Move: Life and potentially his partner Bill Hayes' memoir Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me. The couple were together from the late 2000s to Sacks' death in 2015 from cancer.

Quinto's Dr. Wolf will struggle with face blindness like Sacks, he'll also be eccentric and likely deal with the same criticism of his work as his real life counterpart did. The actor spoke on his character's development during the show's TCA Summer Tour 2024 panel:

"[Oliver Sacks] is ultimately our North Star. He was an incredible, complex, inspirational, and influential doctor and person. It's very unique alchemy for me where I get to play a character 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 for the creation of Oliver Wolf, who exists in his own world."

According to NBC, Wolf will have Sacks' "propensity to swim in the Hudson River" but how he behaves with his patients and his interns will differ at times. There will, however, be parallels drawn between Sacks' real life and habits and Wolf's narrative and idiosyncrasies.

Premiere date

Brilliant Minds premieres Monday, Sept. 23 at 10 p.m. ET after The Voice returns with a new season. Next day streaming will be available on Peacock. The medical drama will have a 13 episode run for its first season but don't expect this series to be a formulaic procedural with a case of the week that gets wrapped up neatly by the end of each episode.

Showrunner and creator Michael Grassi elaborated on this point when discussing what viewers can expect from the program during an interview with NBC Insider:

"I really do see the show as a combination of equal parts character drama and then high stakes, medical mystery. With a lot of medical shows, it's often about the diagnosis and then the cure, and the fix. But when you leave the hospital, it's never really over, right? You're still dealing with so much emotional or mental or even physical fallout.

One of the things that we love to talk about on the show is that there often isn't a cure. In a lot of Oliver Sacks' cases, you couldn't fix the problem and you couldn't make it go away. So we talked a lot about adaptation, like how do Dr. Wolf and the interns and Dr. Carol Pierce help their patients find a way forward when there isn't a cure? And in a way, it's not just about the diagnosis, but it's an emotional mystery/procedural."

Get a look at Brilliant Minds in the trailer below!

Brilliant Minds cast

Before we dive into character backgrounds, here's a quick glance at the cast:

• Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf
• Tamberla Perry plays Dr. Carol Pierce
• Ashleigh LaThrop plays Ericka Kinney
• Alex MacNicoll plays Dr. Van Markus
• Aury Krebs plays Dr. Dana Dang
• Teddy Sears plays Dr. Josh Nicols
• Spence Moore II plays Dr. Jacob Nash
• Donna Murphy plays Muriel Landon

In this post, you've learned a lot about Dr. Wolf as a person but, as far as his position, he's the Attending Physician in the Bronx General Neurology department and is in charge of the neurology interns. It's his job to train them. We'll see the interns go on rounds with him, giving their input on cases and helping him provide treatment to his patients.

Dr. Carol Pierce is the Chief of Psychiatry who brings Wolf back to Bronx General when he's between jobs. She's aware of his brilliance and the eccentricities that come with it but she's got a department that's understaffed as well as underfunded and a backlog of patients that need help. He's the right man for the job, even though she knows she's going out on a limb with him. It'll be up to her to protect Wolf when his unconventional treatment plans are questioned.

When describing her character during the TCA press panel Tamberla Perry said, "[Carol] handles things a lot with her heart, and that's often the way she treats her patients. She is unwavering. She is fiercely loyal."

Character descriptions for the interns haven't been released, however, Grassi did speak on their place and purpose in Brilliant Minds.

"I love the interns so much, and they're so talented. We have come to a place in our society where we are talking about mental health in a way where we haven't before. I think we still have a long way to go, but I see our interns as four very diverse and complex POVs on mental health. They can bring their voices to it and have interesting debates and talk about things that feel urgent and timely. And also, we dig into their personal lives. I wanted to infuse these emotional, deep, complex storylines with some youthful energy as well. I'm really happy with where we've landed with that." "

Donna Murphy plays Dr. Wolf's mother Muriel Landon and, per Deadline, is set to recur throughout season 1 in flashbacks to Oliver's youth. In that time during his life, Muriel was his protector as his father, her ex-husband, struggled with his mental health.

We'll update this section when information on Teddy Sears' character Dr. Josh Nichols is available.

Guest stars

As Hidden Remote previously reported, we can expect a star studded guest appearance in Brilliant Minds' first season. André De Shields is one of Wolf's patients in the pilot episode. His character has Alzheimer's. Steve Howey will guest star later in the season as a biker gang member seeking treatment. And Mandy Patinkin is set for a two episode arc as a family doctor who pays Bronx General a visit.

Brilliant Minds is a new fall offering you're definitely going to want to tune into starting Monday, Sept. 23. We'll certainly be watching. Stay tuned to Hidden Remote and follow us on X!