Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season

For five years, the epic HBO historical fantasy series Game of Thrones has fairly closely followed the storyline of author George R.R. Martin's novels in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. With season six, the show reaches beyond the five volumes that Martin has published to date, sending faithful readers into uncharted territory. This season opens with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) dead, Sansa (Sophie Turner) on the run from the sadistic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), Cersei (Lena Headey) in a battle for control over King's Landing with the fanatical priest High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce), mother of dragons Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) captured by the Dothraki, and more. The show, which began as a battle between powerful men with royal blood and hereditary claims to the throne, has transformed into a drama about powerful women—along with Daenerys, Cersei, and Sansa are the cunning Queen Margaery (Natalie Dormer), warrior Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), and assassin Arya (Maisie Williams)—challenging the patriarchy, male outcasts, and underdogs, including bastard sons Snow and Bolton, dwarf Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), eunuch Varys (Conleth Hill), and crippled Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright). This is fantasy on a massive scale, creating an entire world by filming on location in numerous countries and serving up epic battles with huge armies, armadas of ships, and flying, fire-breathing dragons, to tell a tale that also has affecting moments of human connection and tragedy (the story of Hodor is heartbreaking). Presenting all 10 episodes from the 2016 sixth season of the most popular show on HBO, extras include episode commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and deleted scenes (the Blu-ray release includes additional supplements). Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)