Slightly less present in Coppola's epic tale of two Dons in "The Godfather Part II," Duvall's Irish-German attorney still earns his place at the Corleone table and is a welcome addition whenever he's on-screen. Helping get Michael out of the jam with the Senate hearing in Washington and ensuring Frank Pentangeli's silence, he remained not just a respected and trusted confidant to the new head of the family but a character with his own story. It begs the question, then, as to why Michael's devoted second-in-command was killed off-screen between "Part II" and "Part III." Didn't the man who helped the new godfather keep the Corleone family in power deserve a little more respect? Well, as revealed by the actor himself, he didn't feel like he got any.
In the third and least favored film in the trilogy, Tom's absence is explained away reasonably quickly, with Michael mentioning that the family attorney died at some point in the 20-year gap between "Part II" and "Part III." While the cause of death is never confirmed, Michael nonetheless mourns his old friend and respectfully helps his son, Andrew Hagen, who was ordained as a priest, get a high-ranking post at the Vatican. However, the truth was that Tom was written out of "The Godfather Part III" because Duvall refused to return.
