‘Brilliant Minds’ Creator On Show’s “Love Letter” To Real-Life Queer Doctor Oliver Sacks

Although Zachary Quinto only plays a doctor on television, his character has some very real inspiration.

In Brilliant Minds, the Emmy nominee stars as Dr. Oliver Wolf, inspired by the world-renowned queer neurologist, Dr. Oliver Sacks, who wrote numerous best-selling books based on his case studies before he died at age 82 in 2015.

Series creator Michael Grassi explained that he’s “doing something different” from other medical procedural dramas, telling Huffington Post, “What really differentiates our show is Oliver Sacks. This is a love letter to a real-life doctor who treated real-life patients and told their stories.”

In the NBC series, which airs Mondays at 10/9c, Dr. Wolf suffers from a rare condition that brings a unique quality to his care. After his unusual methods result in his dismissal, Dr. Wolf takes a job at Bronx General, where he leads a team of bright young interns in solving some puzzling cases.

Although Dr. Sacks remained closeted throughout much of his life, Grassi’s show — inspired by Sacks’ books The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1985) and An Anthropologist on Mars (1995) — is set in modern times, allowing the doctor’s onscreen counterpart to live his truth and bringing a new sense of relevancy to his work.

“To find somebody who is a hero, who is so dedicated to his patients [and] who also happens to be gay, is exciting to me,” said Grassi. “While Dr. Wolf has a lot of walls up and is dealing with a lot of complex things, I wanted him to be living in today’s world. I wanted all of our cases and relationships to feel urgent and in conversation with things we are now experiencing.”

Quinto previously opened up about portraying the “incredible, complex, inspirational and influential” doctor, explaining the “unique alchemy” of his character.

“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,” he explained. “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.”

Quinto added, “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. So he didn’t come out until very much later in life. He ended up meeting a partner and having a really happy relationship till the end of his life. But 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.”