BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- Zachary Quinto had made numerous appearances on television shows such as “Charmed” and “24” before he landed the role of Skyler on the NBC series “Heroes.” That role 15 years ago changed his life as he would go on to star in numerous other projects including portraying Spock in the “Star Trek” reboot. He’s now going through a bit of a homecoming as Quinto returns to NBC to star in the new medical drama “Brilliant Minds” scheduled to launch at 10 p.m. Sept. 23 on KGET. The series - inspired by the life and work of world-famous author and physician Oliver Sacks - follows a larger-than-life neurologist, Dr. Oliver Wolf (Quinto), and his team of interns as they explore the last great frontier – the human mind. “Interestingly, ‘Heroes’ was a show that the entire inciting incident of that show was about a solar eclipse awakening people’s powers and awakening people’s sense of what they could accomplish in their lives. And we started filming ‘Brilliant Minds’ on April 8, the day of the solar eclipse,” Quinto says. “So, there was also this connection back to ‘Heroes’ in another way entirely, which made me feel like there was something bigger at play here and made me feel even more connected to this show and to NBC again.” “Brilliant Minds” is one of three new shows debuting as part of the NBC 2024-2025 TV schedule. The other new offerings are the comedies “St. Denis Medical” and “Happy’s Place.” There have been 13 episodes of “Brilliant Minds” ordered for this initial season. It was originally called “Dr. Wolf,” but the producers decided to change the name because there were several other shows with wolf in the name and they didn’t want any confusion. “Brilliant Minds” became the title because everyone decided that it sounded more like a medical program. Quinto jokes that with his track record of working on sci-fi and fantasy projects viewers may have assumed he was playing a character who could change into a wolf. “There’s this supernatural quality to roles that I’ve played in the past. And I just agree, there’s something really right about this title,” Quinto says. “It’s about the doctors on the show who are obviously brilliant and use their brilliance to help their patients, but it is also about the patients. “These people who have minds that are unconventional. They’re maybe not the minds that they wish that they had, the brains that they wish that they had, but our doctors are teaching them how to recognize their own brilliance. And that’s something that I think is a throughline of the show, as well.” Quinto will never sprout a heavy fur coat or grow fangs but his character in “Brilliant Minds” must deal with patients while facing a very real neurological issue himself. His character has prosopagnosia, a condition better known as face blindness. This is an inability to recognize a person by their face. This element is why Quinto sees Wolf as one of the most complex characters he has played in his career. Along with the new NBC series, Quinto can be seen in the feature films “Down Low” and “He Went That Way.” Other credits include “Margin Call,” “NOS4A2,” “American Horror Story” and “The Boys in the Band.” As for Wolf, Quinto says, “He's definitely got shadow to him.  I'm always drawn to characters that are interesting, complicated, and he certainly is that.  I think he struggles with aspects of how to relate to the world himself.  And there's something very universal about that. “He's someone who’s committed to helping other people and through helping other people, he oftentimes learns how to help himself and how to dig deeper within himself.  So you will see that journey and the conflicts that come up.  But he is a character who is always driven by a sense of compassion and a sense of encouraging his patients to find their dignity.  He wants to do that at any cost really.” The return to NBC has made Quinto happy as has getting the chance to play such a complicated character as Dr. Wolf. He is most proud the series is giving him a chance to play an openly gay character on a primetime network show. He calls that a significant honor. He is grateful to NBC for giving the green light to the production. “And not only the stories from an LGBTQ perspective, but from a perspective of diversity in all the characters that we meet at Bronx General,” Quinto says. “I think there's a really organic sense of inclusion in our show. “I think audiences will see themselves in these characters no matter what their personal experiences.  And that’s something that is especially gratifying to me and really exciting as we start to share it with audiences.” The cast of “Brilliant Minds” also includes Tamberla Perry, Ashleigh LaThrop, Alex MacNicoll, Aury Krebs, Spence Moore II, Teddy Sears, and Donna Murphy.