The Last Of Us viewers praise original Joel actor Troy Baker's killer performance

Spoiler warning: this article contains spoilers for The Last of Us episode eight - scroll with caution.

In amongst all the action of The Last of Us’ eighth episode, fans of the original game probably spotted a familiar face amongst David’s cannibalistic group.

Fans’ reception to ‘When We Are In Need’ has been overwhelmingly positive - in fact, it’s both the most viewed and highest rated of the series so far, having accumulated 8.1 million viewers in the U.S. on Sunday alone. It remains to be seen if the season finale will be able to top it (although let's face it, it probably will).

Take a look at the trailer for The Last of Us’ season one finale below.

In the episode, viewers were introduced to James - David’s right-hand man (or as Ellie calls him, “buddy boy”). Just in case you were unfamiliar, James is portrayed by none other than Troy Baker, AKA the actor who played Joel in the games. While he may not have been given a major role in the show, as GamesRadar+ reports, fans have been full of praise for his performance, and are thrilled that the showrunners have given a noticeable nod to the actor.

“Voice actors ARE actors, so it was awesome to see Troy Baker in an actual legit ass role last night on The Last of Us (instead of just getting to cameo as a clicker like he'd originally thought). Please do more of this type of casting when something is adapted! They deserve it!” tweeted @GinaIppy. "Troy Baker was so f***ing great in the show, I was really impressed by how well he portrayed James, much better than I anticipated,” wrote @DanielDexxl. “I also enjoyed Troy Baker’s James - nice that he was a fleshed out character, and not just a cameo,” @JJMorgan19 said.

There are just a few more days to wait until the season finale - it’s set to air on Sunday 12 March in the U.S., and Monday 13 March in the UK. Let the countdown begin.