The Bright Sessions

• Julia Morizawa as Dr. Joan Bright:
  The titular character of the podcast, Dr. Bright is a psychologist who specializes in therapy for atypicals, individuals with powers. It's later revealed that she used to work for the nonprofit organization AM and is trying to free her brother from the organization's facility.
• Lauren Shippen as Samantha "Sam" Barnes:
  Sam is a new patient of Dr. Bright who suffers from anxiety and can travel through time.
• Briggon Snow as Caleb Michaels:
  A high school student with empathetic abilities who struggles with controlling his own emotions due to his power.
• Anna Lore as Chloe Turner:
  An atypical with the ability to read minds. Initially believing the voices she hears to be angels, she started seeing Dr. Bright at the behest of her mother.
• Charlie Ian as Damien:
  A man with the power to manipulate the wants of others. He uses this ability to force Dr. Bright into giving him therapy.
• Ian McQuown as Agent Green:
  Dr. Bright's ex who works for the mysterious AM.
• Alex Gallner as Adam Hayes:
  One of Caleb's classmates who helps him control his power.
• Andrew Nowak as Mark Bryant:
  Dr Bright's younger brother who was kidnapped and experimented on by the AM.
• Alex Marshall-Brown as Wadsworth:
  One of the directors of the AM.
• Phillip Jordan as Frank Sawyer:
  A homeless military veteran who Chloe befriends. He was part of a military experiment with the AM to give ordinary people atypical abilities.
• Alanna Fox as Rose Atkinson:
  A new patient of Dr. Bright's with narcolepsy who can enter into and manipulate other people's dreams. She comes from a family of atypicals.

In an interview, Shippen revealed that the first character to be created for the podcast was Sam. She thought about creating a character who had the ability to travel "into famous novels", but decided to turn the character into a time-traveller as it was easier to write. At the same time, Shippen had been listening to podcasts and believed it would be interesting to hear the conversations between a time traveller and a therapist. From that point on, the other characters came into fruition.[1]

David Chang of Medium, reviewing the first season, gave the podcast a positive review and described it as a "cross between In Treatment and X-Men". He praised the writing as "sharp and dramatic" and the voice actors' performances. He concluded by saying that while the podcast feels constrained, due to focusing solely on the therapy sessions, it manages to make it work.[2]

Wired named The Bright Sessions one of the top 10 podcasts of 2016, describing it as "part Professor X, part Sigmund Freud", and stating that its entertaining and intriguing.[3] Popular Science similarly praised The Bright Sessions and named it as one of the podcasts "every nerd should listen to".[4]