> The latest Star Trek movie was meant as a prequel

It was a sequel to the immediately previous Star Trek movie, which itself was, by its own terms, later in causality (though earlier in time) than the last appearance of Spock (or, for that matter, Romulus as an existing planet) in the earlier canon (and, also, later in both time and causality than the most recent TV series.)

The latest Star Trek movie isn't a prequel to anything, since none of the pre-existing canon follows it in causal sequence, its a sequel (though an alternate-universe-earlier-setting-date sequel, for some of the earlier canon) to the earlier canon.