Zachary Quinto steps into some giant-sized doctor's shoes in NBC's 'Brilliant Minds'

NEW YORK (AP) — There's a great moment in the first episode of the new NBC medical drama “Brilliant Minds” when it becomes very clear that we're not dealing with a typical TV doctor.

Zachary Quinto is behind the wheel of a car barreling down a New York City parkway, packed with hospital interns, abruptly weaving in and out of lanes, when one of them asks, “Does anyone want to share a Klonopin?” — a drug sometimes used to treat panic disorders.

“Oh, glory to God, yes, please,” says Quinto, reaching an arm into the back seat. The internthen breaks the pill in half and gives a sliver to the driver, who swallows it, as the other interns share stunned looks.

Quinto, playing the character Dr. Oliver Wolf, is clearly not portraying any dour, by-the-rules doctor here — he’s playing a character inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks, the path-breaking researcher and author who rose to fame in the 1970s and was once called the “poet laureate of medicine.”

“He was someone who was tirelessly committed to the dignity of the human experience. And so I feel really grateful to be able to tell his story and to continue his legacy in a way that I hope our show is able to do,” says Quinto.

“Brilliant Minds” takes Sack’s personality — a motorcycle-riding, fern-loving advocate for mental health who died in 2015 at 82 — and puts him in the present day, where the creators theorize he would have no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone. The series debuts Monday on NBC, right after “The Voice.”

“It’s almost as if we’re imagining what it would have been like if Oliver Sacks had been born at a different time,” says Quinto. “We use the real life person as our North Star through everything we’re doing and all the stories that we were telling, but we were able to find our own flavor and our own perspective in the telling of those stories as well.”

In upcoming episodes, Wolf and his team deal with a biker friend whose brain tumor is affecting his memories, a mother who after surgery feels disconnected from her children, and a 12-year-old girl who gets seizures whenever she laughs.

Aside from the weekly emergencies, there is also a longer, series-long narrative exploring Wolf's personal life and his fraught relationship with his doctor parents, especially his late father, who had mental illness.

“I think over the course of the season, we see Dr. Wolf start to let his guard down a little bit by helping his patients and by mentoring the interns. And he’s learning from them as much as they’re learning from him,” says creator and showrunner Michael Grassi.

The series hopes to satisfy viewers who come for the complex medical mysteries — with delicious jargon like “elevated intracranial pressure” and “abnormal neurocardiogenic reflex” — but also the very human connections between patient and doctor.

“I always say if people watch our show and they see themselves and the stories that we’re telling, then we’re doing our job,” says Quinto.

This isn't the first time Sacks has been portrayed. His 1973 book, “Awakenings,” about hospital patients who’d spent decades in a kind of frozen state until he tried a new treatment, led to a 1990 movie in which Sacks was played by Robin Williams.

The real Sacks lived in self-imposed celibacy for more than three decades, only coming out late in life. But Quinto and Grassi were not interested in having their hero closeted.

“If we were going to be having a gay male lead of our show in 2024, I really wanted them to be out and proud and that not to be something that he was hiding,” said Grassi.

Grassi said when he was creating the show he always had Quinto in mind, being a fan of the actor's depth but also his humor. Grassi knew it was the perfect fit while filming the driving scene for the pilot when the intern offers her pill.

“Zach on that day ad-libbed like a million different responses,” says Grassi. "And they were all funnier than the last. Editing was so hard to choose which one. But that’s when I knew. I’m like, ‘This is going to be great.’”

For Quinto, “Brilliant Minds” offers a chance to play a charismatic, empathic hero. While Quinto broke out as Mr. Spock in “Star Trek,” his resume also includes some less savory characters — a serial killer who tore out the brains of superheroes in “Heroes,” the deranged Dr. Oliver Thredson on "American Horror Story: Asylum" and a demonic drifter in AMC’s “NOS4A2.”

“After all the dark and villainous characters that I’ve played, it’s really nice to anchor a story playing a character who is really operating from a place of optimism, hope, compassion and love and joy.”

FILE - Actor Zachary Quinto poses for a portrait on Friday, March 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Actor Zachary Quinto poses for a portrait on Friday, March 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Actor Zachary Quinto poses for a portrait on Friday, March 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

This image released by NBC shows Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf in a scene from "Brilliant Minds." (Peter Kramer/NBC via AP)

This image released by NBC shows Zachary Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf in a scene from "Brilliant Minds." (NBC via AP)

FILE - Actor Zachary Quinto poses for a portrait on Friday, March 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.

Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.

By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.

“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”

Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.

It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.

Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.

Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.

“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.

Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.

The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.

Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.

When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.

Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.

“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”

Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.

“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”

And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.

Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.

Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.

While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.

Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.

Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.

“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”

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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)