‘Brilliant Minds’ Creator Michael Grassi Reveals How Eric Dane’s Guest Appearance Happened Amid Actor’s ALS Diagnosis (Exclusive)

Monday’s episode of Brilliant Minds was a very special one that guest starred Eric Dane, and creator Michael Grassi spoke to PopCulture.com about how it came about.

In the episode, “Fire Fighter,” Dane appeared as a firefighter who is struggling with his ALS diagnosis and refuses to tell his family so as not to burden them.

It was revealed in October that the Grey’s Anatomy actor, who revealed his ALS diagnosis in April, would be guest starring on the NBC medical drama playing a character that hits very close to home. Grassi shared that it was actually Dane’s team who reached out and said he was a fan of the show and wanted to appear. “I am a huge Eric Dane fan, so when I heard he wanted to be a part of Brilliant Minds, I was just thrilled,” Grassi expressed.

“And we had a series of conversations, and when our first Zoom happened, I had flown home for a family emergency with a family member who was dealing with a difficult diagnosis,” he continued. “And I had to Zoom from their house, and Eric and I hopped on together and sort of started to have a collaborative conversation, and we started circling this idea of what is it like for a family to navigate a difficult diagnosis?”

“And there’s no rule book. There’s no right or wrong way,” Grassi explained. “There’s no real guide on how to do it. And I think we love the idea of seeing this firefighter, Matthew, who has been saving other people his whole life, and that’s what he’s dedicated his life to, and it’s his life’s work, and it’s who he is at his core, have to then, later in life, accept help and how difficult that journey might be for somebody.”

“And those are all ideas that we were interested in exploring, as well as this idea of making an adaptation,” he said. “We talk about that a lot on our show. And a lot of cases on Brilliant Minds, there often isn’t a cure and we often talk about how do you adapt. With a condition like ALS, it’s progressive. And when you adapt to a new normal, something new changes. And then once you adapt to that, something changes again, and that’s such a challenging thing to accept and to process, and it’s unimaginable, and sort of exploring these themes and how our character Matthew and our doctors all grapple with how difficult this is.”

When it came time to film, Grassi couldn’t say enough praise about Dane, admitting the actor is “the absolute best.” He continued, “He’s so cool within the episode. From the second he arrived on set, he felt right at home, and he’s just an excellent actor, and he gives you everything and more. And then on top of that, once you call ‘Cut,’ he’s laughing and joking around, and he’s the absolute best. He’s a light, and he’s so generous in spirit, and it’s one of the best collaborations I ever had. I will never forget this experience.”

“And I’m so lucky. I feel so lucky that we had the opportunity to work together and collaborate and tell this story, which I know is important to him for many reasons and important to me for many reasons,” he shared. “And I think this idea of accepting help and this idea of navigating a difficult diagnosis, while, yes, in this episode, is specific to ALS, I think in many ways, these themes are universal. This idea of family, whether it’s not a family or a large-scale family, and letting them in to help you, even reflects on our Sam story and Wolf story. I think we see that in sort of the episode, but Eric is insane.”

As far as collaborating with Dane on the episode and making sure that everything was accurate, Grassi thinks the entire process was “wonderful.” He continued, “I think from minute one, when Eric and I started our conversations about this, it was really important for us to be sort of grounded and honest and sort of really meet Eric where he is and make sure that he feels great about the story and what we’re doing.”

“And also, my co-writer in the episode, Daniela Lamas, is a doctor, and we talked to many ALS doctors and had them read the script and consulted,” Grassi said. “It was really important for us to get the medicine right, but at the same time, we really wanted to get the emotional part of it right. So I think that where our show really comes to life is, yes, we’re a medical drama, but we’re also a show about the human condition. So making sure that that felt really honest was important.”

The episode was as emotional as ever, and fans can watch it again tomorrow when it drops on Peacock. New episodes of Brilliant Minds air on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.