Warehouse 13

The series posits that there have been a dozen incarnations of the warehouse before the present-day 13th in South Dakota. Warehouse 1 was built between 336–323 BC on the orders of Alexander the Great as a place to keep artifacts obtained by war.[11] After Alexander died, the warehouse was moved to Egypt, establishing the practice of locating the warehouse in the most powerful empire of the day, under the reasoning that it will be best defended there. Egypt's Ptolemaic rulers appointed a group of people, known as the Regents, to oversee the warehouse and act as its first "agents" and collectors of artifacts. Warehouse 2 lasted until the Roman conquest of Egypt.[12] Other warehouses throughout history include: Warehouse 3 in Western Roman Empire (Italy), Warehouse 4 in Hunnic Empire until the death of Attila the Hun, Warehouse 5 in Byzantine Empire, Warehouse 6 in Cambodia under the Khmer Empire, Warehouse 7 in the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan, Warehouse 8 in Germany during the Holy Roman Empire (1260–1517), Warehouse 9 in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople until the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, Warehouse 10 in Mughal Empire (India), Warehouse 11 in the Russian Empire under the Romanov Dynasty (the 1812 Napoleonic War with Russia was an attempt to seize control of Warehouse 11), and Warehouse 12 in the United Kingdom from 1830 until 1914. It was during the time of Warehouse 11 that the Regents began to employ agents to gather and protect artifacts.[13] This practice continued under Warehouse 12, with British agents traveling further and further searching for artifacts to add to the collection.[14][15]

The next move brought the warehouse to South Dakota in the United States. Unlike previous warehouses, which were placed in the centers of their empires, Warehouse 13 was located in a remote area of South Dakota to hide it.[16] The first Warehouse 13 was built in 1898, but the structure burned down because of an insufficient understanding of how to safely store artifacts.[17] The move to the rebuilt and current Warehouse 13 occurred in 1914 at the onset of World War I. The warehouse was designed by Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and M. C. Escher, while the warehouse's expansion joints were created by Albert Einstein.[18]

Originally, artifacts are items connected to some historical or mythological figure or event. Each artifact has been imbued with something from its creator, user, or a major event in history. Some are well known: Studio 54's Disco ball; Lewis Carroll's looking glass, which contains an evil entity called "Alice" that can possess other people's bodies (Myka in Season 1 episode "Duped"), leaving their minds trapped in the mirror; and Edgar Allan Poe's pen and a volume of his writing, which can make whatever the user writes a reality. Some are not: Lizzie Borden had a mirrored compact that today compels users to kill their loved ones with an ax; Marilyn Monroe owned a brush that now turns its user's hair platinum blonde, which Myka once used on herself while under the influence of W. C. Fields' juggling balls that induce drunkenness and blackouts. Others may have humorous effects, such as Ivan Pavlov's bell, which will call any dog to you but causes excessive drooling for 24 hours, and a magic kettle that grants wishes but produces a ferret if the wish is impossible. The artifacts react with electricity and can be neutralized by immersion in a mysterious purple goo or placed inside a neutralizing reflective bag both produced by Global Dynamics, a research laboratory from Warehouse 13's sister show, Eureka. Artie has also mentioned that ingesting neutralizer will make you "see things".[19] During episode 43 (season 4), Mrs. Frederic shows Claudia an artifact being created—a silver bracelet worn by an ordinary person who exhibits extraordinary courage.

Saul Rubinek and Eddie McClintock

• Eddie McClintock as Pete Lattimer is a "rule-bender" Secret Service Agent, now assigned to Warehouse 13. He has been able to pick up "vibes," both good and bad, since he was a child. The series frequently references his being a recovering alcoholic who had already been sober for more than eight years when the series started. He is also more than a little fond of cookies.
• Joanne Kelly as Myka Bering, once a rising star in the Secret Service, is a by-the-book agent. She has a scrupulous eye for detail and possesses an eidetic memory. She also has extensive knowledge of books, having grown up in a book store. Reference to a former partner that ended in tragedy is frequently made, such as in the season one episode "Regrets."
• Saul Rubinek as Artie Nielsen is the Special Agent in Charge at Warehouse 13. A former cryptographer and codebreaker for the NSA, he has spent over 30 years at the Warehouse[20] and is very knowledgeable about artifacts, both in the Warehouse and out in the world. He becomes a surrogate father to Claudia.
• Genelle Williams as Leena (seasons 1–4; guest season 5), the proprietor of the bed and breakfast in nearby Univille, where the team lives. She can read a person's aura.
• Simon Reynolds as Daniel Dickinson (season 1; guest season 2), Pete and Myka's former boss in Washington, D.C.
• Allison Scagliotti as Claudia Donovan (seasons 2–5; recurring season 1) is described as a "young, hip, brilliant techno-wiz"[21] who earns a job at Warehouse 13 after discovering too many of its secrets. She can hack into almost any computer network and occasionally modifies artifacts to suit her needs.
• Aaron Ashmore as Steve Jinks (seasons 4–5; recurring season 3) was an ATF agent before being recruited to Warehouse 13 for his ability to know if people are lying. In "Emily Lake" he is killed by Marcus Diamond (Sasha Roiz) on orders of Walter Sykes (Anthony Michael Hall). In season 4, he is resurrected by Claudia using the metronome. Ashmore was promoted to series regular, beginning with the episode "Personal Effects."

• CCH Pounder as Mrs. Irene Frederic
• Genelle Williams as Leena Frederic
• Roger Rees as James MacPherson (seasons 1–4)
• Mark A. Sheppard as Benedict Valda (season 2; guest seasons 1 & 5)
• René Auberjonois as Hugo Miller (season 2–5)
• Jaime Murray as Helena G. Wells (seasons 2–5)
• Paula Garcés as Kelly Hernandez (season 2; guest season 5)
• Nolan Gerard Funk as Todd (season 2)
• Faran Tahir as Adwin Kosan (seasons 3–4; guest season 2)
• Kate Mulgrew as Jane Lattimer (seasons 3–4)
• Ashley Williams as Sally Stukowski (season 3)
• Sasha Roiz as Marcus Diamond (seasons 3–4)
• Brent Spiner as Brother Adrian (seasons 3-4)
• Lindsay Wagner as Dr. Vanessa Calder (seasons 4–5; guest seasons 2–3)
• Kelly Hu as Abigail Cho (seasons 4–5)
• Josh Blaylock as Nick Powell (season 4)
• Chryssie Whitehead as Claire Donovan (season 5)
• Erick Avari as Caturanga (guest seasons 3 & 5)
• Anthony Michael Hall as Walter Sykes (season 3)
• Jeri Ryan as Amanda Lattimer (guest seasons 3-4)

Warehouse 13 was part of Syfy's developing shared fictional universe, with several characters crossing over between series:

• Global Dynamics researcher Douglas Fargo (played by Neil Grayston) from Eureka traveled to South Dakota to update Warehouse 13's computer system in the Warehouse 13 episode "13.1". Warehouse 13 computer wizard Claudia Donovan (played by Allison Scagliotti) subsequently traveled to the town of Eureka, Oregon to check out the technological marvels at Global Dynamics in the Eureka episode "Crossing Over." Fargo again appeared in the Warehouse 13 episode "Don't Hate the Player" when Claudia, Lattimer, and Bering traveled to Palo Alto, California to find Douglas beta testing a virtual reality simulator with the aid of a dangerous artifact.
• Dr. Vanessa Calder (played by Lindsay Wagner), who appeared in the Warehouse 13 episodes "For the Team," "Buried," "Love Sick" and "Endless Terror" as a physician and love interest of Artie, traveled to Fenton, Pennsylvania, to investigate a series of deaths in which the victims suffered massive organ failures in the Alphas episode "Never Let Me Go."
• Hugo Miller spent some time in the town of Eureka, departing with Douglas Fargo at the end of the episode "13.1"; he returns in "Love Sick," commenting that, "every week [there] something seems to go 'boom'!" His presence there is off-screen.

Warehouse 13 did import characters from other TV series, but would often cast pairs of actors who had worked together on other series as single-episode characters.

• Sean Maher and Jewel Staite who worked together on Firefly were both cast members in "Mild Mannered" (S2E2)
• Paula Garcés and Laura Harris who worked together on Defying Gravity were both cast members in "Merge with Caution " (S2E8)
• Ryan Cartwright and Erin Way who worked together on Alphas were cast together in the third episode of the final season: "A Faire to Remember" (S5E3)
• Erica Cerra and Niall Matter who work together on Eureka played a couple with an artifact in S1E8.
• Kirsten Nelson and Timothy Omundson who worked together on Psych were both cast in S4E5.
• James Marsters and Anthony Stewart Head, who were both in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, were also in S4E19 and E20 together.

Individual episodes can be purchased at the Google Play Store, Apple TV+, Vudu, iTunes,[57] Amazon Prime Video, Fandango Now.

The first part of a five-part comic series was released in August 2011 by Dynamite Entertainment[58] with part five released in December 2011.[59] A trade paperback was released in May 2012 containing all five parts.[60]

• Cox, Greg (June 2011). Warehouse 13: A Touch of Fever. New York: Simon and Schuster.

In August 2016, Infinite Dreams Gaming and Conquest Gaming announced Warehouse 13: The Board Game coming to Kickstarter. It is a semi-cooperative game for 3-5 players taking Warehouse Agents' roles with one player working secretly against the Warehouse. Agents must work together trying to retrieve artifacts while uncovering the identity of the traitor.[61]