‘Brilliant Minds’ Boss Addresses Shocking Exits

Major spoilers ahead for the winter premiere of Brilliant Minds!

Monday’s winter premiere of Brilliant Minds saw two doctors leaving Bronx General.

Creator Michael Grassi got real about the two exits, which happened toward the end of the newest episode, “The Boy Who Feels Everything.”  

First off, Spence Moore II’s Dr. Jacob Nash accepted a position in Texas after a doctor affiliated with his old football team offered him a spot in his residency program. Throughout the episode, Jacob struggled with what to do, ultimately coming to the decision at the end of the episode to leave and telling Wolf he wanted to “give athletes the kind of care you taught me every patient deserves, the kind of care I wish I got when I was a kid.”

As for Dr. Van Markus (Alex MacNicoll), his reason to leave was a little more heartbreaking. The fall finale ended with his ex-wife, Michelle (Stacey Farber), getting into a terrible car accident. Despite Wolf declaring her brain dead, Van refused to give in before eventually letting her go. Van decided to “step away from the department” to be there for his son, Liam, and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back.

Brilliant Minds hitting fans with a double whammy for departures at the top of the second half of Season 2 was a surprise, but Grassi isn’t counting out their potential returns just yet. “What I’ll say is: I love Van and Jacob. I love their characters, but I also love Alex [MacNicoll] and Spence [Moore II] so much,” he told TVLine. “They’ve been with us from the beginning of Brilliant Minds, and I’m their Number 1 fan.”

He continued, “Similar to what Wolf says in that scene in his office at the end of the episode — he says ‘My door is always open’ — and my hope is that they’re very much still in our world, and this is not the last we’ll see Van or Jacob on Brilliant Minds.”

Since Wolf’s team is now down two doctors, it’s hard to predict how everyone will acclimate to the changes as the season continues, especially with other problems going on, both personal and professional. Fans will just have to tune in on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC to see what happens. New episodes stream on Peacock, where all episodes are available, on Tuesdays.