As
@Reverend said, it would be interesting to cast actors of Arab or wider Middle-Eastern heritage as The Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV and his family. Apparently, Padishah is Persian for "supreme Shah", and the Arab name Shaddam (or Saddam) means "he who confronts" - so I have read. I wonder if Alexander Siddig is available... He might be a bit fed up of being the goto person when a director needs an actor of the appropriate ethnicity but this is a prestige project. I'm sure there are lots of possible alternative casting choices.