| “ | Wasn't it also decided that people have the right to fight for their lives the best way they could? | „ |
| ~ Adrian Helmsley arguing with Carl Anheuser about warning the public about the apocalypse |
| “ | Everyone out there has died in vain if we start our future with an act of cruelty! What will we tell our children? What will they tell theirs? | „ |
| ~ Adrian urging the Arks be opened |
Dr. Adrian Helmsley is the secondary protagonist of 2012. He is a geologist and the Chief Science Adviser to the late President Thomas Wilson and the son of Harry Helmsley. He soon started a relationship with Laura Wilson, an art expert and the First Daughter of President Wilson. Adrian is a survivor of the 2012 Apocalypse.
Biography[]
2009[]
Adrian Helmsley traveled to India to meet Dr. Satnam Tsurutani, an astrophysicist at Naga Deng Copper Mine, in Nampan, India. Satnam showed Adrian a video of the Sun unleashing a massive solar flare with an exponential amount of neutrinos and for the first time, the neutrinos were causing a physical reaction.
Adrian flies to Washington DC to inform Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser about the news he and Satnam discovered. With the help of his friend Scotty, he shows Anheuser the paper about the neutrinos heating up the Earth's core and this will cause a chain of natural disasters.
2012[]
In late 2012, Adrian was seen in the President's room talking about the upcoming apocalypse and Anheuser was informing Wilson that Adrian is flying to Yellowstone National Park to collect more data.
Later in Yellowstone, Adrian was talking to Professor Frederick West about scientific news around Yellowstone in a government research facility, before being informed by a soldier that a family has passed the restricted fence. He discovers that it is Jackson Curtis who is the author of Farewell Atlantis and Adrian is a fan of. After greeting Jackson and his children, Adrian went inside a hut where Professor West was checking the data. Adrian and Professor West were talking to Satnam on webcam from a laptop, they hoped that they were wrong about the end of the world, but they weren't as Satnam informed them that the Earth's crust was destabilizing.
In DC, Adrian tells the national leaders the Earth's landmass is destabilizing a rate much faster than anticipated and informs them that they only have three days left before the apocalypse begins.
2012 Apocalypse[]
Adrian, Scotty, and Professor West witnessed live seismic data of the Los Angeles Earthquake. The San Andreas fault along with the sister faults are shifting in the bay area and the whole Pacific Plate is destabilizing.
Later on, Adrian speaks to his father, Harry Helmsley, who is onboard the Genesis, and informs him that the apocalypse is happening. They both share a tearful and sensitive goodbye before hanging up on the phone.
Adrian then heads off to bring Anheuser to a news report showing a series of earthquakes striking South America, the chaos breaking out in London, and people around the globe gathering in public places in desperate prayer. While Adrian argues that the rest of the public have the right to fight for their lives the best they can, Anheuser responds that a massive panic will be caused if they told them about the end of the world. Professor West comes to inform them that the Yellowstone Caldera has erupted and the ash cloud will hit Washington in seven hours. Adrian finds President Wilson, who is in the chapel praying, while the rest of the staff heads to board Air Force One to get to the Arks. Wilson explains to Adrian that he chooses to stay in DC to address the nation one last time.
Adrian then boards Air Force One, joining the rest of the staff, explaining that the President wasn't coming. Anheuser reveals that the Vice President is dead after being hit by ash clouds somewhere in Pittsburgh and the Speaker of the White House is missing. He becomes the acting President without having authority, leading to an argument between the two. After taking off, they all watch as President Wilson addresses his message for the nation.
Adrian goes to see Laura to try and console her. After showing her a copy of Farewell Atlantis and talking to her about mankind's legacy, he is called to the Situation Room. Adrian comes back to see a 9.4 earthquake hitting Washington D.C, and then soon after witnessing the Earth's crust starting to shift. Adrian finds that more tsunamis were going to strike the Japanese seaboard after two earthquakes.
Adrian and Anheuser discover that the tsunamis will flood the Cho Ming Valley within six hours. The crust has shifted by 23 degrees to the southwest. The Earth's poles have reversed their magnetic fields: Wisconsin is now the North Pole, and the South Pole is now somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Although, Professor West says that Wisconsin is actually the new South Pole, which confuses Adrian and Anheuser.
After arriving on the Arks, Adrian was shown his room. His phone rings and Satnam warns of a gigantic tsunami coming from the East and they have never got picked up. Satnam is soon killed along with his family, along with everyone else in Nampan. Shocked by his friend's death, Adrian goes to find out where the tsunami is going to hit in the next 28 minutes as Anheuser orders the Arks to launch.
Adrian, Laura, and Professor West see all the survivors frantically trying to get onto the Arks, with some of them falling off the ledge. Adrian then gives a speech to the other two Arks, begging for them to be let in. The people on the Arks decided to let the survivors come aboard the Arks, deciding that they cannot leave them to die.
Right after bringing all of the survivors aboard the Ark, the gate's hydraulics are jammed by Jackson's party. Adrian sees Noah and Lilly, as well as Jackson, helping the injured Tenzin get into the next bay. Adrian, Laura and an ark staff member then go to try and help them.
Adrian, Laura, and the Ark staff arrive at the Zoological Bay where they find Lilly and Caesar screaming for Tamara. They inform Jackson about the hydraulics system being jammed with an impact driver. If they don't get it out, they will collide with Mount Everest. Jackson and Noah manage to get the drill out of the gears and they escape death just in time.
When the global floodwaters from the tsunamis recede, the entire African continent had risen up above the sea level. The Drakensberg Mountains are now the tallest mountains in the world. Adrian starts a relationship with Laura, and the three arks set sail for the Cape of Good Hope.
Trivia[]
- Adrian Helmsley was portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose performance was praised.
- Although Adrian is American, Ejiofor is British, adopting an American accent for the role.