Game of Thrones Blu-Ray/DVD announced for March 15

HBO Home entertainment has announced the release date of the Game of Thrones Season 5 DVD/BluRay box set: March 15th, 2016.  Even though the digital version has been out since September, we still have nearly two more months to wait for those who want the physical media version with all the trimmings.

According to the press release, the Season 5 Blu-ray set (retailing for $79.98) and DVD (retailing for $59.99) both contain all 10 episodes of Season 5. The Blu-ray version will include free Digital HD copies of those episodes, plus exclusive bonus content. Both will also include the “A Day in the Life” special and the “New Characters/Locations” vignette, which were also included with the digital release back in September.

Here are the other special features that didn’t appear in the digital release but will be on both the DVD and the BluRay boxsets:

• Anatomy of an Episode: Mother’s Mercy – From the early stages of the writer’s room to the final visual effects, see what went into creating “Mother’s Mercy,” the Emmy-winning episode fans will be talking about for years to come.
•  The Real History Behind Game of Thrones – Watch historians, along with George R.R. Martin, explore the interweaving inspirations of the actual players in the era known as “The Wars of the Roses” and other historical events in this two-part series
• Audio Commentaries – Twelve audio commentaries with cast and crew including David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Iain Glen, Maisie Williams, Natalie Dormer, Gwendoline Christie and more.
• Deleted Scenes – 4 deleted scenes

The BluRay version special bonuses also include:

• The Dance of Dragons – Hear the story of the Greens and the Blacks, the Targaryen civil war that led to the downfall of the dragons, featuring surprise narration from notable characters from past seasons.
• In-Episode Guide – Dig deeper into the show with this in-feature resource that provides background information about on-screen characters, locations, and relevant histories.
• Histories and Lore – Learn about the mythology of Westeros and Essos as told from the varying perspectives of the characters themselves in 14 history pieces. Select Histories feature illustrations from the show’s storyboard artist, Will Simpson.

This is the latest that HBO has ever waited to release a Game of Thrones season box set. Even the very first season, when the box set came out almost a month before Season 2 arrived, hit the stores by March 6th. Since then, the release dates have been earlier, usually in the early to mid February range. (Last year’s box set arrived in stores on February 17th.) The early release of the digital copies is probably one reason the network felt it could wait a little longer to release the physical media version. But the much later start date for the next season is probably a factor as well. Though Season 6 is only starting a couple of weeks later Season 5 did, this has been a slow push back from the “first weekend in April” date that the early seasons of the show aimed for.

Even with the DVD/BluRay copies not arriving until nearly a month later than last year, we will *still* have another five weeks after it becomes available for purchase before Season 6 hits the airwaves.

h/t Coming Soon