Mandy Patinkin joins Brilliant Minds: First Look at His Mysterious Doctor

Brilliant minds Returns mid-season with Mandy Patinkin Play a mysterious role as a fellow doctor in a life-or-death medical case.

in Us WeeklyFirst look at the Monday, January 6 episode, Oliver Wolfe (Zachary Quinto(And Josh Nichols)Teddy Sears) appears to help a woman trapped under a collapsed building, Which is when they notice Good Samaritan at the scene.

“The paramedics did what they could, but triage is exhausting now. I am a doctor,” Unnamed character (Patinkin) Dr. Wolf says in the clip. “I was on my way to see my wife. I heard the crash, and I thought I could help, but there wasn't much I could do but sit here with her.

Dr. Wolfe assures the man that sometimes emotional support “is everything” before sharing more of what he knows about the patient.

“Her name is Jenna. “From what she's been able to tell me, she's 41 and runs a nonprofit,” Patinkin's character explains. “She keeps calling Stuart — her boyfriend or fiancé, I think. I've been in and out (of consciousness) for the past 10 minutes. “She's strong.”

Patinkin, 72, eventually leaves to “go help the neighbors” as Dr. Wolf Thinks about next steps.

“Our options are limited. Either we wait until she is released and taken to hospital,” Dr. Nichols says in the clip. “But if we intervene here, we risk infection or catastrophic bleeding that we cannot stop. “She could die.”

However, Dr. Wolf doesn't want to wait because Jenna's condition will “get worse.” The patient briefly wakes up to say that she is a runner and wants to keep her legs, which makes Dr. Wolf less willing to perform an on-site amputation. An emergency responder urges him to reconsider.

“The priority is to evacuate. This building has lost half its foundation. It's not a question of if but when what's left of it will collapse,” a member of the fire service tells Dr. Wolf. “The problem is that moving this much rubble could cause the rest of it to collapse.” “The building.”

He continues: “We are working on the evacuation as quickly as possible, but it will take some time. We need to move her now, even if it means she will lose her legs.”

brilliant minds, Which premiered in September 2024, and is inspired by the movie The Dark Knight Oliver Sacks books The man who mistook his wife for a hat and Anthropologist on Mars and Followed by a neurologist and his team of trainees as they deal with difficult neurological cases while dealing with their own relationships and mental health.

In addition to critical success, Quinto, 47, is making history with his character on the hit NBC procedural. Marking the first openly gay character To lead a networked medical chain.

“I think the thing that's very important to me is that it's not important at all. Actually, it's not important to the character,” Quinto said on The Drew Barrymore Show in December 2024. “It's an aspect of the character's identity and NBC has been really open to that The story and I invested in it, and the value of this story in our contemporary era. Culture and conversations taking place today in society.

Quinto noted that the role means “a lot” to him because it is based on Sachs, who died in 2015.

“He lived and worked primarily in the mid-20th century, and he himself was a gay man and had been celibate for 35 years of his life. And when I found out, I said to myself, 'If you're not somehow called to the clergy or living a life that restricts that, then why You make a choice like that?” he recalls. “And then the more I learned about it, and the more I read about it, and the more I observed why someone would make that decision, it became clear to me that it was because they didn't feel like they could be themselves authentically and could He is allowed to do so. The same opportunities in the field of medicine. He knew he was destined to change the field of medicine, which he did.

After reading about the inspiration for Brilliant mindsQuinto He considered the role an “honor.” Adding, “The tragedy of his life is that he felt that if he brought that part of himself into his work, he would be denied those opportunities. So for me to be in that position now — a generation later — and to be an openly gay man leading this show and telling this story It's an opportunity to honor the original man himself, Oliver Sacks.

He concluded: “And to say how grateful I am that I don’t have to cut off this part of myself in order to enjoy a life full of fulfillment and success.”

Brilliant minds It airs on NBC Mondays at 10pm ET. New episodes air the next day on Peacock.