why didnt they start with this? then work their way to HOD and Bob's rebellion
I would have been better imo
That man gave HBO so much material its not even fair
George specifically pitched The Dance of the Dragons to HBO as the best successor show. HBO asked him for show ideas as Game of Thrones was ending and he only suggested two shows, one based on the Dance and one based on his Dunk and Egg novellas.
At first they didn't listen to him and greenlit the Long Night without GRRM even knowing, with no source material, and their own showrunner and writers. They shot the pilot for $35 million and screened it for the execs and it was awful. That (as well as season 8’s reception probably) spooked HBO enough to finally stop bullshytting about going forward without GRRM’s involvement.
They re-upped George’s deal, greenlit his top choice to a full season order, and let him handpick the showrunner.
Aside from Dunk and Egg (also greenlit now) The Dance by far has the most non-GoT source material for a showrunner/writer to work with. George wrote two novellas about it and it's the main event in Fire and Blood.