Zachary Quinto takes on the role of a giant doctor in the NBC series “Brilliant Minds.”

Zachary Quinto takes on the role of a giant doctor in the NBC series “Brilliant Minds.”

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

Zachary Quinto is behind the wheel of a car speeding down a New York park street 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 that sometimes used to treat panic disorders.

“Oh, glory to God, yes please,” Quinto says, stretching an arm into the back seat. The intern then breaks the pill in half and gives a piece of it to the driver, who swallows it while the other interns give puzzled looks.

Quinto, who plays the character Dr. Oliver Wolf clearly doesn't embody a grumpy, rule-following doctor here – he plays a character inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks, the pioneering researcher and author who rose to fame in the 1970s and was once called the “Poet Laureate of Medicine”.

“He was someone who fought tirelessly for the dignity of the human experience. And that's why I'm really grateful to be able to tell his story and continue his legacy in a way that hopefully our show succeeds,” says Quinto.

He is a fern-loving doctor

“Brilliant Minds” takes Sacks’ personality — a biker-riding, fern-loving mental health advocate who died in 2015 at age 82 — and brings him to the present, where the creators suspect he has no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone. The series premieres Monday on NBC, right after “The Voice.”

“It's almost like 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 person as our North Star in everything we do and in all the stories we tell, but we were also able to find our own flavor and perspective in telling these stories.”

In the upcoming episodes, Wolf and his team deal with a biker friend whose brain tumor is affecting his memory, a mother who feels separated from her children after surgery, and a 12-year-old girl who laughs every time she sees something , gets seizures.

Aside from the weekly emergencies, there is also a longer, series-length narrative that delves into Wolf's personal life and his strained relationship with his doctor parents, particularly his late father, who was mentally ill.

“I think as the season progresses we'll see how Dr. Wolf begins to slack off a bit, helping his patients and supervising the interns. And he learns from them as much as they learn from him,” says creator and showrunner Michael Grassi.

The series hopes to satisfy viewers interested in the complex medical mysteries – with delicious jargon like “increased intracranial pressure” and “abnormal neurocardiogenic reflex” – but also in the very human connections between patient and doctor.

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

“A place of optimism”

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

The real Sacks lived in self-imposed celibacy for more than three decades and only came out late in their lives. But Quinto and Grassi had no interest in their hero being kept under wraps.

“If we had a gay male lead on our show in 2024, I really wanted him to be proud and not hide that,” Grassi said.

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

“Zach spontaneously gave a million different answers that day,” says Grassi. “And they were all funnier than the last. It was so hard to decide on the cut. But I knew it then. I thought, 'This is going to be great.'”

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

“After all the dark and villainous characters I've played, it's really nice to anchor a story by playing a character that really operates from a standpoint of optimism, hope, compassion, and love and joy .”