I think we'd need more information to offer much help. Where are you (zone and general location)? What clematis was it? Where was it planted (soil, sun/shade)? How large was it when planted? Did you prune it at all last season or over the winter?

IME if you don't have critters that like eating clematis (such as my cursed voles) they are fairly difficult to kill as long as they have adequate moisture but not overly wet soil. Their first year is usually spent settling in and growing roots unless you planted a huge potted one. After that, the plant will get larger each year, though some won't push growth until really late in their second year, and occasionally some have been known to disappear for a year before reappearing. In my garden, I am not yet seeing any evidence of growth on my clematis, but we still had a foot of snow on the ground 2 weeks ago, and we got an additional 3" Wednesday night that only disappeared today. So my soil is still quite cold and the clematis haven't warmed up enough to start pushing out new growth yet.

More info for sure is needed, but there are good odds it will come back. In my experience I haven't lost a single clematis, even very inexpensive $5 ones from menards. If you paid a lot, I would assume it was maybe a larger more developed root system? I'd give it some time. Some of mine are just now leafing out.

Keep an eye on them! Mine seem to show up overnight! If the roots are shaded it will take a little longer for the soil to warm up as well. Mine that are in more shade took a few weeks longer to come up.

My first clematis from 3 years ago came up last year, after I thought it was dead. This year, it was late in coming up, and I think it might really be dead. It's later than all my other clematises so far. However, I am now seeing a shoot that possibly could be it. One difference I could see is that last year, it grew from some dead stems. This year, there were no such stems. So it might have been attempting growth from the root ball itself (I did try to bury it deep with some stem segments also).

Any sign yet Deb?

Not yet. I checked again today. Maybe one day I'll come home from work to a surprise! Will let you all know if I see any signs. Thanks