Fan Casting Sequel Non-Entity in Sort by Tropes

Sometimes a character from a movie doesn't appear in the sequel. They might get a brief Hand Wave explaining their absence, or they might not be mentioned at all. Several things can cause a character's disappearance — maybe the actor has died, didn't want to return, or couldn't for scheduling reasons. Maybe the writers couldn't figure out how to fit the character into the story. Or the producers may feel the character just wasn't popular enough to make a return, or they may have lost the rights to use the character in future projects.