Who is James actor Troy Baker in HBO The Last of Us?

HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us is coming to the end of its first chapter. The acclaimed series – based on the 2013 video game of the same name – aired its eighth and penultimate episode in the UK on Monday, meaning there is less than a week until the hotly anticipated finale.

The show has been revered by both fans and critics as one of the best TV shows of all time, as well as boasting a whopping viewership in both the UK and US. Variety reported that episode eight reached an impressive 8.1m viewers when it aired in the US on Sunday night, marking a new series high and a 74 percent increase from the viewership of the series premiere.

Co-creators and executive producers Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have assembled a stellar cast for the series, centred around main protagonists Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). The showrunners were also keen to have stars of the video game return for its live-action adaptation.

READ MORE: Will there be a The Last of Us season two and will it be based on the second game?

The series has already seen Merle Dandridge reprise her role as Firefly leader Marlene in the series premiere, while Jeffrey Pierce – the original voice of Joel’s brother Tommy – played ill-fated villain Perry in the Kansas City episodes. But the originators of the game’s two main characters also feature in the TV adaptation.

Original Joel voice and motion-capture actor Troy Baker had a supporting role in episode eight. Troy is an established voice and mo-cap actor, having voiced Sam Drake in the Uncharted franchise, Booker DeWitt in Bioshock: Infinite, Higgs in Death Stranding, and Magni in God of War, among countless others.

He returned for The Last of Us TV adaption, but in a much