‘Brilliant Minds’ Showrunner Michael Grassi Dives Deep Into Real-Life Inspiration Behind His NBC Drama: “It Feels Really Important To Be Putting This Character Into People’s Homes”

As COVID-19 continued to surge in July 2020, Brilliant Minds writer, executive producer, and showrunner Michael Grassi embarked on a deep dive into the life of famous neurologist Oliver Wolf Sacks and never looked back.

“Warner Brothers and [EP] Greg Berlanti sent me The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars. I was in a writers’ room then — I think it was either Riverdale or Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin — but I was home. I had time to steep myself, and I read those two books, and I didn’t stop there. I just kept reading, and reading, and reading,” Grassi told Decider during an interview at the Television Critics Association’s Summer 2024 tour back in July. “The simple thing I can say is that I fell in love with Oliver Sacks. I fell in love with Sacks’ cases; his life. And I saw a tremendous opportunity to create a medical show with a character that we hadn’t really seen before.”

On September 23, 2024, more than four years after Grassi first steeped himself in Sacks’ work, his new show Brilliant Minds premiered on NBC and shined a fresh spotlight on the late author, physician, and influential neurologist. Actor Zachary Quinto brings the show’s Dr. Oliver Wolf to life alongside a team of doctors and interns who explore complex medical cases, mental health, and personal and professional relationships.

In addition to teasing guest stars André De Shields, Steve Howey, and Mandy Patinkin, Grassi he offered insight on the writers’ room, shared how much of the show is rooted in truth, and discussed the importance of Oliver as an openly gay lead.

“We’ve had gay leads before, but this felt really new on a big NBC medical drama… It feels really important to be putting this character into people’s homes,” Grassi told Decider. “I’m in very close contact with the Oliver Sacks estate — with Kate Edgar, who runs the estate — and she reads all the scripts and she loves the show so much. One of the things that she said to me was she felt it was so special to have an out version of Oliver Sacks, and she feels this is what she always wanted for him in a way: to feel safe.”

Read on for our full interview with Grassi about all things Oliver Sacks and what to expect from Brilliant Minds‘ 13-episode debut season.

DECIDER: I imagine a good amount of people are familiar with Oliver’s story from Awakenings and other projects and books that chronicle his life. How deep into existing projects did you get when you were crafting this? Are you scholar level now? 

MICHAEL GRASSI: I feel scholar level. [Laughs] It happened July of 2020, I think, when Warner Brothers and Greg Berlanti sent me The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars. It was in the middle of Covid. So I had time. I was in a writer’s room then — I think it was either Riverdale or Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin — but I finally was home. I had time to steep myself, and I read those two books, and I didn’t stop there. I just kept reading, and reading, and reading. And the simple thing I can say is that I fell in love with Oliver Sacks. I fell in love with his cases; his life. And I saw a tremendous opportunity to create a medical with a character that we hadn’t really seen before. So I don’t know if I’d say a scholar, but I’m pretty steeped. 

One thing that struck me in the first three episodes was the warmth, the humanity, and the sense of empathy that comes from Oliver. It felt very refreshing, and almost hopeful to watch. Why do you feel like the world needs a series like this right now? 

That’s such a good question. I feel like mental health right now is such an important topic, and I think we’ve come a long way in terms of how we’re talking about mental health, but I do think that there’s still a long way to go. My hope is that people come to the show and find themselves in it, whether it’s within patients or whether it’s within the doctors. And like you said, hope is such an important thing. I do feel like it feels like the medical show for our time.

I was already sobbing a few minutes in with that piano scene. André De Shields is amazing, and I know you teased Steve Howey and Mandy Patinkin in future episodes. What was it like working with those icons? 

So I’ve worked with André De Shields before on a show called Katy Keene on the CW, and I’m his number one fan. I’m always like, ‘How can I work with Andre again?’ I cast André on Katy Keene. He played Josie’s boss at the record store. And, so it was so nice to be reunited with him. And then, I’ve been a huge fan of Steve Howey’s forever. I mean, I loved him on Shameless. I loved him on Dead to Me. He did like one episode of Dead to Me and I was like, ‘I’m obsessed with him.’ He’s been on my dream list of people to work with. And we sent him the script and he responded wanting to do it. And we’re like, ‘Great. Perfect role for him.’ And then listen, Mandy Patinkin is the dream of dreams. I was obsessed with Yentl growing up, so that was my Mandy Patinkin. And then also Homeland. So, it was a dream come true. 

Speaking of casting, let’s talk about the great Zachary Quinto. Why do you feel he’s perfect for this role? And was the show created with him in mind?

Yeah, so I definitely had Zach top of mind when I was creating the show and writing it. Zach is so intelligent and warm and generous, and he takes really big swings with his performances, the same way that Oliver Sacks took big swings in his career and with his patients. So it felt like the perfect marriage. And I feel like we’ve seen Zach in so much genre, and this is an opportunity to see him in a brand new way that we haven’t before — sort of in a grounded medical drama that’s really high-octane, but also really emotional and personal. My favorite is when actors play things they haven’t really done before, and this is what we’re delivering here with Zach. 

Watching the first few episodes, this feels a bit more complex than a typical medical drama because you have to write and juggle multiple mind-boggling neurological storylines. How much research is done in the writers’ room to create these storylines? And how many of the cases are actually inspired by Sacks’ work? 

Really good question. So the gift of this show is that we have the options on two of Oliver Sacks’ most iconic books [noted earlier] so we get to pull from those incredible cases. Some episodes are based on cases and some episodes aren’t. When I first started developing the pilot, I spoke to as many neurologists and neurosurgeons as I could. It was part of my process to continue to steep myself, and one neurosurgeon that I worked with, Oren Gottfried, he was a consultant on the pilot and then we brought him onto the series. He’s at Duke and he’s amazing and has been an incredible resource. When we started in the writer’s room, I also met with this writer named Daniela Lamas. She’s in the writers’ room with us now, and she’s also incredible. She worked on The Resident and she’s also an ICU doctor in Boston. She went to Harvard and she writes these incredible medical op eds for The New York Times and is such a star. So she’s in our writers’ room. We have a doctor there, live, and she is so invaluable to us. 

In addition to all the stories being told in the present, you also utilize very creative flashbacks that explore Oliver’s past, mental health, family, and relationships. How much of those flashbacks and the Brilliant Minds backstory is rooted in truth. I was personally curious about the stuff with his father.

Another really good question. It’s all rooted in truth, and I see the flashbacks as a really deep excavation on our character, who’s inspired by Oliver Sacks. So a lot of the stuff that you’re seeing in the flashbacks are inspired by real anecdotes from his life. For example, when Oliver Sacks was very young, his mother brought home a fetus for him to dissect. And we don’t do that exact story, but we do a version of it. And that’s sort of what we’re exploring with the dad stuff. Oliver Sacks grew up with a brother who was schizophrenic, and we’re not doing that exact story, but we’re doing a version of it. The very grounded story that we’re telling this season within the flashbacks is what is it like to grow up with a parent who is suffering from a mental illness, which I think is something that’s really relatable for a lot of the audience, and we get to tell in a really nuanced, grounded way. 

I also love that Brilliant Minds strikes a brilliant balance of drama and humor throughout. I was the intended audience for that Friday Night Lights reference, so thank you for that. We have to keep Coach Taylor alive. 

[Laugh] We have to. I’m a huge fan of Friday Night Lights — and NBC, right? Thank you for saying that. Humor is such an important part of the show, and it’s one of the things when we first watch the pilot that we felt was really working. Every time I talk to doctors, one of the things they say that gets them through the day is being able to laugh, and I think if we’re doing a show that’s about the human condition, humor is a big part of it. That’s a priority for us, to tell these really emotional stories, but for the audience to have some fun. 

Speaking of fun, I also have to shout out your wardrobe person because Wolf is in some delicious sweaters those first three episodes. 

[Laughs] I love that you brought up the sweaters. That makes me so happy. When we first started developing it, I was like, “What is he going to wear?!’ And we were shooting in the winter and talking about what is the sweater of our imagination? We were thinking of Irish movies and just like weird, obscure references. But yeah, the sweater game is strong. 

Knives Out is shaking. 

Nancy Gould, our costume designer, is incredible and Wolf’s look evolve as we shoot into the summer as well. So there are going to be great looks coming up.

I can’t wait. And I’m also excited to dive deeper into all of his relationships, but three episodes in, I’m successfully shipping Dr. Wolf and Dr. Nichols (Teddy Sears) character. What can you tease about that relationship? And why was it important for you to make Dr. Wolf so open about his sexuality on the show? 

Since creating the show, one of the things that I was most excited about was to have a gay lead at the center of a show like this, who’s also a doctor and also a hero. We’ve had gay leads before, but this felt really new on a big NBC medical drama. So it was really, really important to me. And I feel like doing this on NBC, [a network] that has such an incredible legacy in terms of LGBTQ characters, I promise you — I would not be sitting here today if Will & Grace didn’t exist. I don’t know where I’d be, to be honest. So, I’m getting emotional, but it feels really important to be putting this character into people’s homes. And in terms of Teddy, one fun fact I’ll say is that Teddy and Zach played husbands on American Horror Story. You can find pictures of them online, and it’s really fun now to play them as rivals at Bronx General. It’ll be really interesting to see how they evolve from rivals into potentially something more this season. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but their relationship is one of the most interesting ones in the series for sure.

What else can people expect from Brilliant Minds this season?

I’m so excited. There are so many incredible medical mystery cases and we take some really big swings, but they’re all really grounded in real medicine, which is really exciting. More than anything, I can’t wait for audiences to get to know our characters and their secrets, and for their drama to unfold. There are so many surprises and so many twists, and I really think of the show as equal parts character drama and high-stakes medical mystery. I think we really deliver that and we escalate as the season goes on.

Before we go, what’s something you learned — either about yourself, or life, or the work that you do — as a result of championing this project? 

Gosh, when I first started creating the show, it very quickly became my number one priority. And I’ve never felt anything like this in my career, where I was like, ‘I have to make this and I have to get it to air and people need to watch it.’ It felt like it was something important and I also really wanted to honor Oliver Sacks. You mentioned earlier that he was closeted most of his life, and our Dr. Wolf gets to be out and proud in the contemporary world. I’m in very close contact with the Oliver Sacks estate — with Kate Edgar, who runs the estate — and she reads all the scripts and she loves the show so much. One of the things that she said to me was she felt it was so special to have an out version of Oliver Sacks, and she feels this is what she always wanted for him in a way; to feel safe. Kate and I have had so many incredible calls and conversations. She’s gonna come to set soon and I’m so excited to introduce her to everybody. And Oliver Sacks is also publishing a new book of letters in November, so that’s exciting! Right around where we launch. All these things are coming together at the right time.

New episodes of Brilliant Minds premiere Mondays at 10:00 p.m. on NBC.