Summary
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The Lost Bus (Apple TV+, Oct. 3, 2025) dramatizes the 2018 Camp Fire.
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Based on Kevin McKay, a bus driver who saved 22 children during the blaze.
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The film draws from Lizzie Johnson’s book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire.
Paul Greengrass has built his career on true stories of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, from United 93 to Captain Phillips. His latest, The Lost Bus, may be one of his most harrowing yet. Premiering October 3 on Apple TV+, the film stars Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera in a survival thriller inspired by real events during California’s catastrophic 2018 Camp Fire. But what really happened on that day, and how close does the movie stick to history?
What Real Events Inspired The Lost Bus?
The film is based on the story of Kevin McKay, a newly hired school bus driver in Paradise, California. On November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire erupted after a Pacific Gas and Electric Company power line failed, quickly growing into the deadliest wildfire in state history. Over two weeks, it scorched more than 153,000 acres, destroyed nearly 19,000 structures, and claimed 85 lives.
McKay, who had only been driving buses for a few months after leaving a long career at Walgreens, responded to an emergency call to evacuate students whose parents couldn’t reach the school in time. With two teachers, Abbie Davis and Mary Ludwig, he loaded 22 children onto a bus and drove straight into the inferno.
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How Did Kevin McKay Save 22 Children?
The five-hour journey to safety was chaotic and terrifying. Gridlocked roads, falling embers, and thick smoke slowed the bus’s progress. When the children began coughing from smoke inhalation, McKay stripped off his shirt so the teachers could tear it into rags, wet them, and hand them to the kids to breathe through.
At one point, the group even prepared a manifest of the passengers in case they didn’t make it out alive. “It felt like Armageddon,” Ludwig later recalled. McKay described it as “like heading into Mordor.”
Against the odds, McKay navigated 30 miles of burning terrain. By nightfall, every child was safely reunited with their parents. Ludwig later called him the “bus driver from heaven.”
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What Role Do McConaughey and Ferrera Play in the Movie?
In The Lost Bus, Matthew McConaughey portrays McKay, while America Ferrera plays a composite teacher character inspired by Abbie Davis and Mary Ludwig. Together, they anchor Greengrass’s vision of courage under fire, balancing edge-of-your-seat survival drama with moments of human resilience.
The screenplay, co-written by Greengrass and Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown), draws heavily from Lizzie Johnson’s 2021 nonfiction book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, which chronicled both McKay’s story and the wider community tragedy.
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How Accurate Is The Lost Bus?
Early word suggests the film stays close to the core facts. McKay’s desperate improvisation, the five-hour ordeal, and the children’s survival all remain intact. Where Greengrass takes creative license is in dramatizing the chaos of Paradise as it fell and in streamlining characters for narrative clarity.
The heart of the film one bus, one driver, two teachers, and 22 children trapped in the deadliest wildfire in California history is very much rooted in reality.
The Lost Bus is streaming on Apple TV+.
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