List of Sanctuary characters
The characters in the Canadian science fiction-fantasy television series Sanctuary are predominantly "abnormals": advanced humans or creatures, and the show centers on bringing other abnormals to the Sanctuary in the fictional Old City, for the purpose of protecting the public, as well as the abnormals themselves. Most of the Sanctuary team are abnormals, despite looking human: Helen Magnus has longevity, John Druitt and Ashley Magnus can teleport, and Henry Foss is a werewolf. Even Will Zimmerman was twice turned to an abnormal temporarily: firstly in the episode "Warriors", then later in the episode "Metamorphosis". Several of the actors who play their respective characters have been nominated for Leo and Constellation Awards.
Main characters
Helen Magnus
Doctor Helen Magnus, played by Amanda Tapping is a 174-year-old teratologist and head of the Sanctuary in Old City. She was born in England during the Victorian era, and was one of the first female doctors and scientists of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Her father, Gregory Magnus, taught her about his private research of studying and helping the Abnormals. She later builds the Sanctuary Network in Old City using her father's designs to accommodate the Abnormals. On one hunt, she saves Will Zimmerman during his childhood from a deadly Abnormal, though she is unable to rescue his mother. Decades later, she recruits Will as her protege.Will Zimmerman
Doctor Will Zimmerman, played by Robin Dunne is a police forensic psychiatrist, who possesses natural empathic abilities and a sense of perception. This trait leaves him unpopular with his bosses, and he is often ridiculed or ignored for theories that are "out of the box". Sometime before the series, his girlfriend, Meg breaks up with him. Will secretly suffers nightmares due to an encounter with an Abnormal that left his mother dead. While investigating the mysterious deaths of two local police officers, Will is confronted and eventually recruited by Helen Magnus to help treat her patients. Though highly skeptical of things that science cannot explain, he learns to accept all things extraordinary. He spends his time in the series on his travels with Magnus and the rest of the Sanctuary crew.Ashley Magnus
Ashley Magnus, played by Emilie Ullerup is the daughter of Helen Magnus and John Druitt. After her conception, Helen kept the frozen embryo for over a century. When she could no longer bear the loneliness from her longevity and from losing Druitt, though she is at first unaware of it, she retrieves the embryo. Despite what Ashley lacks in behavioral skills, she more than makes up for it as an expert monster hunter, becoming proficient in using advanced weaponry and technology. Ashley is quite close to her mother and provides a counterbalance to Helen's desire to protect Abnormals, as she normally doesn't hesitate in terminating hostile ones and using whatever methods necessary to capture targets. She is on good terms with Sylvio and his men, though Helen thinks otherwise. In "The Five", she learns that Druitt is her father, and eventually comes to accept it.In the Season 1 finale "Revelations", Ashley and Henry Foss break into a Cabal weapons facility to retrieve the files relating to "Lazarus", the weapon used to turn Abnormals on Humans, but are captured by the Cabal, who drug her and turn her into an Abnormal, inheriting her father's teleportation abilities. After the two escape, she is forced by Dana Whitcomb who now controls her to steal the vial of Vampire-blood taken by the team to cure the weapon, and escapes to the Cabal facility on Easter Island, where she is formally welcomed to The Cabal. In the season 2 premiere "End of Nights", the Cabal use the Vampire-blood to convert her into a Vampire-hybrid, which apparently destroys her personality. They then use her DNA to create five more hybrids, who start taking down the Sanctuary network. During an attack against the Old City facility, Ashley reasserts her original personality long enough to save her mother, apparently killing herself in the process by teleporting while the EM shield is up with the last hybrid. Magnus believes Ashley survives, but her searches are fruitless, Magnus is forced to accept that she is gone.
[|Bigfoot]
"Bigfoot", also known as big guy or biggie, played by Christopher Heyerdahl, who also plays John Druitt is an intelligent Neanderthal-like species, and a former patient of Dr. Magnus. Before he met Magnus, he liked to scare children. Magnus retrieved him and has said to have removed "more than a few bullets" from him, and when he refused to leave her, she appointed him a place in her staff, where he mostly acts as a butler, chauffeur, body guard and general handy man. He is allergic to flowers. He admits to Will Zimmerman that he once scared him for fun during his childhood. Though he does appear to be afraid of him at first, Will grows to respect and befriend him. In the season 1 finale, he becomes infected with the Cabal bioweapon designed to turn abnormals against humans, and is confined to a cell, with the team hoping that a vial of Vampire blood used to try to stop the weapon would reverse his rampage. In the season 2 premiere, Bigfoot refuses to take the cure Tesla has developed, because taking anything made by humans would be against his people's beliefs, even though he is already an outcast to them. However, he eventually takes the serum to help his friends battle the Vampire-hybrids, after some persuasion by Magnus.Throughout the series, Bigfoot uses the caveman-like "ack, ack" expression. According to Damian Kindler, Heyerdahl invented it for his character. The expression has made an effect on the crew, who also sometimes uses the impression while on break as communicating each other.
Henry Foss
Henry Foss, played by Ryan Robbins was found on the Moors as a child by Helen Magnus. He is a friend of Ashley and of Bigfoot. He is a self-proclaimed geek in computer science, as well as a weapons designer, including the construction of a short-wave sonic weapon, and often supplies new gear to Ashley for missions, as well as regularly maintaining Sanctuary's defenses such as an EM shield, keeping them working just as well. Like many among the Sanctuary, he is an Abnormal, a werewolf. He took diazepam to suppress his werewolf abilities, but quit the drug upon realizing that his abilities are controllable. He considered surgery from Helen to rid his werewolf side, but ultimately chose to not undergo the surgery. He can transform at will. Until recently, he has been unable to find or communicate with other HAPs. He investigated a werewolf sighting in Northern England and was able to locate a group of HAPs living in a restricted sanitarium and taking medication to suppress their werewolf transformations, believing they will become uncontrolled monsters. He shows them otherwise and begins a romantic relationship with one of them, Erica. His ability has proven useful, including an incident where he is able to harness his power and escape from the Cabal, who plan to turn him into a werewolf permanently.Actor Ryan Robbins described his role as "by far the easiest to work on", compared to his other prominent roles in television, including Ladon Radim in Stargate Atlantis, and Charlie Connor in Battlestar Galactica. Foss was a recurring character in Season 1, but was upgraded to a main character for Season 2. For his role as Henry Foss in "Edward", Ryan Robbins won a Leo Award for "Best Guest Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series".
Kate Freelander
Kate Freelander, played by Agam Darshi is a con-artist with Cabal connection and has a vast knowledge of their tactics and movements. She was born in Mumbai but raised in Chicago, and left after her father was murdered by Jimmy, a former gang member who later assists Magnus. She first appears in the second-season premiere, "End of Nights". She reluctantly switches sides to the Sanctuary after she is head hunted by the Cabal, and assists them combating the Vampire-hybrids. She becomes a member of the Sanctuary, taking over Ashley's duties, and helps recapture an Abnormal she accidentally released that now thinks she is its mother. In an alternate future, she and Will had a son named Magnus Zimmerman, though being in the probable future, their relationship never took place. However she expresses by far the most concern for Will during his disappearance suggesting she has feelings for him. When Will is brought to the edge of death to contact Kali, Kate shows great concern for him, telling him he will return and doesn't give up on him, even when he's apparently gone and is visibly relieved when he returns to life. She also shows great concern for Will in Metamorphosis, and several times appears about to tell him something and then turning away. She is absent for much of season four, having agreed to go underground to help the Hollow Earth Abnormals as they attempt to rebuild their society. This decision is heavily influenced by her blossoming romance with Garris, one of their leaders.Recurring characters
John Druitt
Montague John Druitt, played by Christopher Heyerdahl is the primary antagonist of the opening webisodes and TV pilot. He is a member of "The Five" during the Victorian era and Helen's former lover. As a member of "The Five", he has the ability to teleport at will. However, in one instance, he was taken hostage by an energy creature, which drives him into homicidal behaviour, and becomes Jack the Ripper, murdering eight prostitutes. He reappears in "Sanctuary for All", where he allows himself to be captured by his daughter, Ashley and brought to the Sanctuary to confront Helen, since he is dying. He sabotages the Sanctuary's defenses and uses his power to put Ashley's life in danger to force Helen to give him her blood, which he says she gave him to save his life once before. She acquiesces, but gives him a poisoned sample; his body becomes unstable and he teleports out. In "The Five", he is revealed to have been revived by fellow "Five" member, [|Nikola Tesla]. When Druitt refuses to join his cause, Tesla tortures him, but that apparently either weakens or otherwise disables the energy creature, and abates his violent tendencies. He escapes and captures Ashley, in order for her to help him save Magnus from Tesla, who he believes is set to kill her. He convinces Ashley, and they rescue Magnus from Tesla and the Cabal in Rome.He returns again in "Revelations" to aid the Sanctuary team in stopping the Cabal from bringing about a war between humans and Abnormals with the biological weapon "Lazarus". Aided with other members of the "Five", the group successfully retrieves the vial of pure vampire blood needed to find a cure for the weapon. However, in the end, the vial is stolen by Ashley, who defects to the Cabal, by whom she was brainwashed previously. After his daughter is apparently killed, he teams up with Tesla and manages to take down several Cabal cells. After returning to the Sanctuary, he reverts to a psychotic murderer, due to the energy creature reasserting itself. The energy creature is released, and locks down the building to kill everyone inside. Druitt saves everybody by teleporting to the same area as the creature, allowing it to take him host again, and then teleporting away. In season 3, Helen tracked him down in the Philippines, as she needed his help to get to her father's mystery city. He was still unstable, but slightly less murderous than before, and so proved immensely helpful in the quest. As part of a larger plot, Adam Worth deceived him, and Druitt was violently tortured. Their next encounter was quite bloody. However, Worth managed to convince Druitt to let him live in exchange for a chance to travel back in time and prevent himself from gaining his powers and madness. Worth broke his word and so Druitt teamed up with Magnus in an attempt to stop him. This required Druitt to absorb large amounts of energy, strengthening his violent parasite and having an unknown effect on his sanity.
When Christopher Heyerdahl was offered a role in the web series, he read several characters and got interested in Druitt, immediately admiring the character. He was surprised yet elated that he got the part of Druitt. Jason Hughes of TV Squad said that Heyerdahl has done a good job at playing sinister, and that the actor fits the stereotype for tall, pale and bald antagonists. For his role as Druitt in "Revelations ", Christopher Heyerdahl was nominated for a Leo Award for "Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series".