The Lost Bus: How to Watch and Where to Stream It Now
Matthew McConaughey heads into the wild, leading a gritty new survival epic with stakes as unforgiving as the terrain.
Paul Greengrass is back in his wheelhouse: real-life disaster, razor-wire tension, and people trying to hold it together when everything is falling apart. His latest, 'The Lost Bus,' tackles the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, and yes, it is exactly as intense as that sounds.
What is 'The Lost Bus'?
Greengrass has never shied away from tough true stories — his filmography has already run through the Bloody Sunday shootings in Northern Ireland, the September 11 attacks, the Maersk Alabama hijacking, and the 2011 Norway terror attacks. This time, he zeroes in on the Camp Fire that tore through Butte County over 17 days in 2018, one of the deadliest wildfires on record. The blaze claimed 85 lives and left a scar on the region that has not faded.
Matthew McConaughey stars as Kevin McKay, a school bus driver who helps evacuate kids and teachers as the fire closes in. The way the story is told, it is less about spectacle and more about the split-second choices that keep people alive — in this case, a class full of children.
Producer Jamie Lee Curtis is not underselling it:
'The most important thing she'll ever make.'
Critics have been largely positive, and Radio Times handed it a three-star review. If you want to see where you land on it, you have options — well, one main option now.
How to watch
'The Lost Bus' is streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ as of Friday, October 3, 2025. Before that, it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, then took a quick lap through select theaters starting Friday, September 19. That theatrical run was brief, so at this point your best bet is Apple TV+.
Cast
McConaughey leads, with America Ferrera playing Mary Ludwig, a school teacher caught in the chaos alongside him. There are a few familiar faces in the ensemble — and if you scan the credits, you might notice more than one McConaughey. Inside baseball, but interesting.
- Matthew McConaughey as Kevin McKay, the bus driver
- America Ferrera as Mary Ludwig, the school teacher
- Yul Vazquez as Ray Martinez, Cal Fire Division chief
- Ashlie Atkinson as Ruby, the bus depot dispatcher
- Levi McConaughey as Shaun McKay, Kevin's son
- Kay McCabe McConaughey as Sherry McKay, Kevin's disabled mother
- Kate Wharton as Jen Kissoon, Cal Fire battalion chief
- Danny McCarthy as McKenzie
- Spencer Watson as Hopkins
- Nathan Gariety as Levi
- Gary Kraus as Sheriff Thomas
Is there a trailer?
Yep. Apple has the trailer up on the film's Apple TV+ page, and it gives a pretty clear sense of the heat-and-ash panic Greengrass is chasing here. If you need a taste before committing, start there.