Dr. Helen Magnus is the protagonist and central character of the Canadian fantasy-science fiction television series Sanctuary.

[3] Years later, she helped form a secret group known as "the Five", along with John Druitt (Christopher Heyerdahl), Nikola Tesla (Jonathon Young), James Watson (Peter Wingfield) and Nigel Griffin (Vincent Gale) at Oxford University.

To get the funding she needed, the Prime Minister reunited the Five to stop and kill Adam Worth (Ian Tracey), who was turned down as a sixth member and blamed the Five for the death of his daughter, from releasing a toxin in London.

[5] In the first season of the show, Magnus appoints an adult Will (Robin Dunne), a forensic psychiatrist who worked for the Old City Police Department, to become her new protégé, which he eventually accepts.

[13] In the two-part season finale "Revelations", the Cabal launch a bioweapon called "Lazarus", which causes any exposed abnormal to attack humans.

In "Veritas", she sets up an elaborate scheme to apprehend a telepath named Emma (Erica Cerra), whom she suspects of working against the Network.

[18] However, it is revealed in the season finale "Kali", Magnus did indeed keep her alive in secrecy, but sedated, as she believes that killing Bertha would jeopardize the planet.

[20] The third season begins with Magnus forcing Wexford to step down as head of the Sanctuary Network, thereby putting herself back in command, while the rest of the team deal with the tsunami.

[21] Though they are not happy that Big Bertha is still alive, the other Sanctuary house heads decide to keep Magnus in charge, while also firing Wexford for breaking several protocols.

During the pursuit she tries to avoid her past self, but fails to stop encountering Watson, who quickly discovers she is from his future, but he promises to keep quiet for the sake of preserving the timeline.

After killing Worth, Magnus ends up in hiding for the next 113 years before she can resurface to help Will dealing with a mass of Abnormals invading the surface.

[29] In the season finale, it is revealed that Helen had been secretly working with several important figures of the 20th Century, including Albert Einstein and Buckminster Fuller amongst others, and had built a new underground Sanctuary.

The Syfy website describes Magnus as a "beautiful and enigmatic" character who has "devoted her life to the practical research of cutting edge medicine and science".

She is also described as "bold and straightforward, brave and no-nonsense, yet she remains proudly true to her formal Victorian English sensibilities".

[3] Portraying actress Amanda Tapping described Magnus as a "crazy character" who is "very eccentric and very sexy and very unapologetic".

[30] Magnus "adores her daughter Ashley, respecting her independence and self-reliance – but that doesn't preclude some occasional mother-daughter friction".

His idealism and purity of thought and the way he analyses things ... she absolutely respects that, but I think she also realises that there's going to come a time when he's going to become a bit jaded ...

When Sanctuary was picked up to a television series, Tapping decided to turn down the Atlantis contract, having been encouraged by her husband to move on after playing Carter for eleven years.

[34] Nevertheless, Tapping found it a challenge to play a different character, as Carter and Magnus have different personalities and points of view; "after playing a character like Sam Carter for so long where her physicality is so comfortable – Sam is so comfortable in her own skin and Helen is this very sexual, more mysterious being.

She has a much darker edge to her and it was sort of finding that because Carter always looks on the bright side and Helen has been around so long, and has seen so much of the evil in human society if you will.

The producers, as well as the American and Canadian networks to give the character, including Magnus, a deep and most dramatic impact.

"[32] In the episode "Normandy", Tapping wore a red-haired wig for Magnus during her time in the Second World War, as an homage to her late grandmother.

[32] The request was granted in the form of a female virologist appearing early in the season (thus establishing Magnus's bisexuality).

[43] Rick Bentley from McClatchy Newspapers commented Tapping's role as Dr. Magnus was a way for the actor to make a name of herself outside the Stargate universe as Carter.

[45] Hilary Rothing of UGO said that "Dr. Helen Magnus is intelligent, alluring and has one of those tasty British accents – Victorian era to be exact.

[46] Alex Walker of Den of Geek believed Magnus was "typical for an English character in an American TV show, with a liking for tea and a cut-glass elocution betraying no hint of a regional accent".

Tapping was nominated for a 2009 Gemini Award for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role," for her role in "Requiem", but lost out to Being Erica's Erin Karpluk[52] In the same year, Tapping won the similar "Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series" Leo Award for the same episode.

[53] She was nominated for the same category again in 2010 for "Pavor Nocturnus",[54] and in 2011 for "Breach",[55] but lost out to Erin Karpluk[56] and Blackstone's Carmen Moore, respectively.